sales. Background Earlier in his writing career, Hailey also wrote Runway Zero Eight, which was a novelization of the television play Flight into Danger (1956) and later inspired the films Zero Hour! (1957) and Terror in the Sky (1971). The plot of Runway Zero Eight features prominently in the comedy spoof Airplane! (1980). Reception Airport did not receive positive reviews: in The New York Times, Martin Levin said, "Mr. Hailey is a plodding sort of writer, but he has just the talent to suggest the crashing ennui of airport routine, where only a mortal disaster can provide color." In the same newspaper, Eliot Fremont-Smith wrote, "As for the formula, the possibilities seem all but inexhaustible. With 'Hotel' and 'Airport' successfully absorbed, can 'Shopping Center,' 'Parking Lot' and 'City Dump' be far behind?" Still, the book was commercially successful among readers, and would continue Hailey's success from the previous Hotel. It spent 64 weeks on the New York Times best seller list, 30 of which were at #1, and became the biggest-selling novel of 1968. Films George Seaton wrote and directed the film adaptation, which was released by Universal in 1970. Starring Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset, and George Kennedy, the film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It earned $100.5 million at the domestic box office (the equivalent of $ million in ). Its success, combined with that of 1972's The Poseidon Adventure, led to the proliferation of "disaster movies" of the 1970s. Airport itself spawned three sequels, each progressively less successful: Airport 1975 (1974; $47.3 million domestic), Airport '77 (1977; $30 million), and The Concorde: Airport '79 (1979; $13 million). References 1968 British novels Airport (film series) Novels by Arthur Hailey Canadian novels adapted into films 1968 Canadian novels Novels set in Chicago Aviation novels Doubleday (publisher) books British novels adapted into films