Trailer
Plot summary
Aboard a commercial airliner, U.S. Marshall Pete Nessip and his brother Terry, a fellow marshal, are escorting prison inmate Earl Leedy, who is a computer wizard, to a high-security prison. When an apparent terrorist hijack attempt blows a hole in the airplane, Terry is sucked out to his death, and the terrorists parachute out of the same hole, taking Leedy with them. A devastated Pete is blamed for overreacting to the incident, and he's forced to turn in his badge. Pete believes that the assault may have been an elaborate prison break meant to free Leedy. Renegade skydiver and former DEA agent Ty Moncrief is the mastermind behind the attack, which culminated in the first-ever parachute jump from a commercial jet at 30,000 feet. Ty plans to use Leedy to hack into the DEA mainframe computer in Washington DC, so Ty can auction off the names of undercover agents to drug cartels worldwide. Ty has scheduled this to be accomplished during an Independence Day parachute exhibition and fireworks display, which is the one day every year when security is loosened around the airspace above Washington DC. Because skydiving played a part in the airplane hijacking, Pete finds his way to Jessie Crossman, a world-class skydiver and ex-con, whose ex-husband Jagger, unknown to all, is part of Ty's crew. Jessie agrees to train Pete how to skydive, if he will sponsor her team for the parachute exhibition.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Drop Zone (1994)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The story was not a studio idea at all: two working skydivers, Tony Griffin and Guy Manos, came up with it, and Steven Seagal was originally lined up to play the lead.
- Wesley Snipes never jumped: his insurance policy, and those of most of the cast, forbade skydiving. The one actor who did go out of the plane was Michael Jeter, who made a tandem jump.
- The green Douglas C-47 Skytrain the skydivers leap from in the film survived its Hollywood career and is now a museum piece, on display at the Valiant Air Command air museum in Titusville, Florida.
- A few seconds of Hans Zimmer's score outlived the film. The sting heard as Kyle Secor's character races to the injured Selkirk Power became a trailer staple, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl turned an adaptation of it into its main theme.
- The film gave its name to a ride: Paramount Parks built drop towers called Drop Zone: Stunt Tower based on it, which under Cedar Fair ownership are now known as Drop Tower: Scream Zone.
