The highly anticipated film, "Captain Phillips," starring Tom Hanks as Captain Richard Phillips, who heroically volunteered as a hostage to save the lives of his crew from Somali pirates off the coast of Africa, hits theaters today and continues to highlight ongoing piracy and robbery that plague the sea.

In an interview with TODAY's Matt Lauer, Capt. Phillips points out that while piracy and robbery "happens all the time," it doesn't just happen in Somalia, but that it also happens in the coasts of South America and Spain, near the Gibraltar Strait (a narrow passage connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean and separates northern Africa from Gibraltar and Spain on the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula).

Phillips says that piracy and robbery come with the territory as a United States Merchant Marine, adding, "You have to understand, we in the Merchant Marines deal with piracy all over the world. Philippines, Blanca Straits (referring to the Gibraltar Strait), east and west coast of Africa and east and west coast of South America -- and indeed today, Nigeria is worse than Somalia ever is."

An example of this is OceanusLive's 2013 Piracy and Robbery At Sea report, which highlights the Horn of Africa/Indian Ocean, West Africa, Southeast Asia and South America - more specifically Guyana, Colombia and Peru.

The report highlights three specific piracy/robbery-type incidents in January 2013:

Jan. 9, 2013:

Vessel Name: Coniston

Flag/Type: Bahamas LPG Tanker

Location: Texaco LPG Berth, Guyana

Type of Incident: Robbery

Jan. 13, 2013

Vessel Name: Hellespont Crusader

Flag/Type: Marshall Islands Oil Tanker

Location: In-port, Buenaventura No.3 anchorage, Colombia

Type of Incident: Robbery

Jan. 23, 2013

Vessel Name: Overseas Pearlmar

Flag/Type: Marshall Islands Tanker

Location: MBM Terminal, Talara Port, Peru

Type of Incident: Robbery

Despite the ongoing threat of piracy and robbery at sea, Phillips has since returned to work, proving that you can take the captain out of the sea, but you can't take the sea out of the captain.

"It's a door that's closed," he said, telling Lauer that watching the film didn't conjure up bad memories. "It's been four years, and I've pretty much put it behind me."

Upon returning to sea, does Phillips still have the lingering fear of being hijacked again?

"Again if you are going to be in the Merchant Marines, you will deal with piracy," he reiterated. "Fireman have to go into a burning house, police have to deal with violent situations, Merchant Marines have to deal with piracy...It's always a concern."

Although Hollywood entices its viewers with a heroic tale, the actual crew members might not be lured into seeing the film. A lawsuit has been pending since the ordeal with nine crew members suing the owners of the ship, claiming that Philips put them in harm's way and went too close to the shore and ignored warnings of pirate activity.

Phillips admitted to Lauer that he is concerned about the outcome of the lawsuit.

"Of course I am; I believe six of the crew are still suing," he said. "It's been on for four years. Within weeks of coming home, the suit was initiated. And they are suing the company."

Lawsuit concerns aside, what does Phillips think of Hollywood's take on the film?

"It really did capture the stress and the tenseness," said Phillips. "We all have to compress five days into two hours for a movie is tough. There's a lot of scheduling and things that couldn't be put in, but I think they did a very good job in portraying what went on and how fearful the time was."

There is buzz around Hollywood that "Captain Phillips" may receive an academy award nomination for the film, as well as actor Tom Hanks for his portrayal of Capt. Richard Phillips.

When Phillips returned home he was hailed as a hero and praised by President Barack Obama, who said: "His courage is a model for all Americans."

Sadly, not all governments intervene as the U.S. did to save Capt. Richard Phillips; instead many captives in Third World nations are forgotten and perish in captivity due lack of concern or financial bargaining incapability when they are held for ransom.

"While Somali piracy has by-and-large disappeared from the news headlines recently, thanks to a crackdown by shipping companies who have improved their on-board security, Col Steed's caseload is the rump of nearly 100 sailors who still languish in captivity," The Telegraph reports.

"They are crew members from Third World nations, whose own governments often show little interest in their fate, and whose families lack the financial or political clout to bring their case to the attention of the wider world," The Telegraph adds. "Many have simply been abandoned by their shipping companies, who prefer to leave them to the pirates' mercy rather than pay a ransom. Some have spent up to three years as hostages."

"It is disgraceful behavior to send sailors into a high-risk area like the Indian Ocean without looking after them, but it does happen," says Col Steed. "A lot of the crews are from Third World countries where the owners think they can get away with short cuts - they don't even pay the sailors' wages to their families while they're kept hostage."

So when American and European audiences cozy up with their popcorn and soda to see Hollywood's depiction of "Captain Phillips," they may not even realize or comprehend that there isn't always a happy ending, like that of American Captain Richard Phillips. Instead, there continues to be many captive crew members still chartering the roughest seas of their lives.