Flight of the Phoenix

Flight of the Phoenix is an action adventure drama about a cargo plane that goes down in the Gobi Desert. Pilot Frank Towns and his co-pilot AJ fly out to a remote oil operation in Mongolia to shut it down and bring the workers home. On the way to Beijing, a sandstorm brings the aircraft down in a stretch of desert far from any help. With no radio and limited water, the survivors realise that waiting for rescue is not an option. Elliott, an eccentric passenger with ideas about aircraft design, proposes rebuilding a flyable machine from the wreckage, and the group sets about the work while heat, sand and tensions among them wear everyone down.

John Moore directed the film, which sits second in his filmography after Behind Enemy Lines and before The Omen. Scott Frank and Edward Burns wrote the screenplay, and the cast is led by Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Giovanni Ribisi and Miranda Otto. It is a remake of the 1965 film of the same name.

Released in December 2004, the film cost about 45 million USD and took roughly 35 million USD worldwide, so it did not recover its budget at the box office. On IMDb it holds 6.1/10 from around 59,000 votes, and on TMDB 6/10 from about 972 votes. A critics' rating of 5.2/10 from 117 reviews places it below the audience scores.