The Terminal is a 2004 American comedy-drama film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Stanley Tucci.

The film is about an Eastern European man who is stuck in New York's John F. Kennedy Airport terminal when he is denied entry to the United States, but is unable to return to his native country because of a military coup.

The film is partially inspired by the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri who lived in Terminal 1 of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, from 1988 to 2006.

Viktor Navorski, a traveler from Krakozhia, arrives at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport and learns that a coup d'état has occurred in his country while he was in the air.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection seize his passport and return ticket, pending resolution of the issue, leaving him stranded at the airport with only his luggage and a Planters peanut can.

During a visit from his superiors, Dixon enlists Viktor's help in communicating with a man from a country neighboring Krakozhia, who is desperately attempting to bring medicine home to his dying father.

Amelia, who realizes Viktor has not been entirely truthful, confronts him at his makeshift home, where he shows her that the Planters peanut can contains a copy of the "A Great Day in Harlem" photograph.

He warns Viktor that if he does not go home at once, he will prosecute his friends at the airport for their illegal activities, most seriously by deporting Gupta back to India to face a charge of assaulting a corrupt police officer.

Dixon reaches the taxi stand only moments after Viktor has left, but has a change of heart and tells his officers to handle the incoming travelers rather than engage in pursuit.

The idea for the film may have originated from the story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, also known as Sir Alfred, an Iranian refugee who lived in Terminal One of the Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris from 1988 until 2006.

The design of the set for The Terminal, as noted by Roger Ebert in his reviews and attested by Spielberg himself in a feature by Empire magazine, was greatly inspired by Jacques Tati's classic film PlayTime.

[20] Normally individual musicians in studio orchestras perform anonymously, but Spielberg insisted on highlighting Bernstein's work; she was being treated for cancer at the time of recording, and she died less than a year later.

The website's critical consensus reads, "The Terminal transcends its flaws through the sheer virtue of its crowd-pleasing message and a typically solid star turn from Tom Hanks.

[25] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave The Terminal three and a half out of four stars, stating that "This premise could have yielded a film of contrivance and labored invention.

Spielberg, his actors and writers... weave it into a human comedy that is gentle and true, that creates sympathy for all of its characters, that finds a tone that will carry them through, that made me unreasonably happy".

"[26] Critic Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com considered The Terminal alongside War of the Worlds and Munich (also directed by Spielberg) as the three best films made within the studio system that comment upon the September 11 attacks.