Sept. 11’ s Flight 93 gets movie treatment

Has the American psyche healed enough?

It’s been more than four years since terrorists crashed United Airlines Flight 93 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, killing 40 crew members and passengers. Some movie producers are hoping that American audiences are now finally ready to watch what happened on that plane.

Outside London this month, British writer- director Paul Greengrass began shooting a Flight 93 movie, produced by Universal Pictures and Londonbased Working Title Films. In Los Angeles, American filmmaker Peter Markle is finishing up his movie, produced by Fox Television Studios for the A&E cable network. The films are part of a growing U. S. trend of new Sept. 11themed movies. Oliver Stone is shooting an untitled 9/ 11 film; Mike Binder’s Reign O’er Me deals with 9/ 11- related grief; and a movie adaptation of the book 102 Minutes

and a TV miniseries on the 9/ 11 Commission’s findings are planned.

Industry experts say it’s not surprising filmmakers would want to tell the story of that day.

“ It’s probably the most dramatic story of my lifetime. It is a seminal event for people who are younger than the World War II generation,” said Delia Fine, A&E’s vice-president of film, drama and music.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of the Los Angeles- based box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co., said everyone was touched by the attacks, so it’s a story that everyone can relate to. He said he believes that will make the films profitable.

Observers say it worked earlier this year, when the Discovery Channel attracted large audiences to its docudrama Flight that Fought Back. But that wasn’t the case immediately following the attacks, when filmmakers and studios excised the Twin Towers from trailers, posters and some movies. They also postponed the release of films depicting terrorists and delayed the premiere of a counterterrorism TV show.