A captain and his crew are lost and they lose power and also a bunch of pirates invade their vessel but unfortunately for the captain they have a helicopter.

Hi,

Is it similar to Captain Phillips? Maybe. It's hard to say. There is a story about a boat invaded by pirates. So fundamentally yes, it is similar. There are a lot of similar movies though.

From my point of view, the issue is that your logline doesn't really tell us the plot. Maybe your story is wildly different to Captain Phillips. Sure the setting might be the same but the stakes might be different.

The other issue I have with your logline is that it doesn't make much sense to me and it's a bit clunky. The overuse of the word 'and' in a singular sentence prevents it from flowing and I'm not sure of the relevance of the helicopter. I can only presume the Pirates use it to board the boat, but is it pivitol to the story? If so, try to make this more apparent in a revised logline. Also, we know little about the Captain or what's on the boat. Is the cargo precious? Is the Captain hiding something onboard?

Also, are you able to clarify if your intent was in fact to say 'unfortunately' as opposed to 'fortunately'?

Why is it unfortunate that the pirates have a helicopter? Again, if it's because that's their mode of transport to access the boat, then yes, unfortunate - but possibly not worth mentioing in the logline. If what you meant to say is that the means of escape will be the helicopter, would that not in fact be fortunate for the Captain?

Keep at it. My advice is to focus on the story, make sure your logline flows and focus on the key points.

And yes, this is similar to Captain Phillips so maybe this is an opportunity to flip it and make it different somehow. Instead of a cargo ship it could be a cruise ship, or a private yacht, or the Captain might be corrupt, or the like. Either way, sell it in the logline so that potential producers know it's not Captain Phillips Part 2.

Good luck

Haven't I already seen a movie like this? With a similar title? (And one based on real events, too.)

It seems to me that merely having a different prop, a helicopter, doesn't make for a different story than "Captain Phillips". No matter how different the gimmick or set up, it leads to to the same central problem: a captain has to overcome pirates who take over his ship.

What is there about this story that is fresh and unique, that has never been told before?