Backdraft is a 1991 action thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Gregory Widen. The film stars Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Donald Sutherland, and Robert De Niro. Jason Gedrick and J. T. Walsh co-star. The story is about firefighters in Chicago on the trail of a serial arsonist who sets fires with a fictional chemical substance, trychtichlorate.
The film grossed $77,868,585 in its domestic run and $74,500,000 from foreign markets, making it the highest grossing film ever made about firefighters. Its total worldwide gross is $152,368,585. The film received three Academy Awards nominations.