Don't miss Sharknado July 11th on Syfy

[deltasigma]

The true story behind the making of Sharknado.

Originally, Thunder Levin was tapped for the movie. But he thought it was SharkNATO - something about sharks attacking NATO.

From the beginning, Levin – who also previously wrote and directed “Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood!” – pictured the project as a disaster film. The New York native decided to set it in his current hometown of Los Angeles as a way to unleash his frustration with “the freeways and the traffic and a lot of the L.A. stereotypes.”
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Levin was surprised when the project was greenlit so quickly, particularly because he wrote the film with a $100 million budget in mind.

But, due to the fact that he had already directed one tongue-in-cheek movie – and partially because he couldn’t figure out a way to reduce his ideas to the meager $1 million that the film was actually budgeted for – he signed off on the project. Instead, Levin flew to the jungles of Costa Rica to direct a straight-to-DVD film called “AE: Apocalypse Earth,” replacing flying sharks with fist-sized scorpions and poisonous snakes.

It wasn’t until he was in the editing room trying to piece together “AE: Apocalypse Earth” that he ran back into “Sharknado.” Director Anthony C. Ferrante had been randomly assigned to share an editing bay with him.

“Someone had told (Ferrante) who I was,” Levin said. “He walked in and said, ‘I want to punch you.’”

[tim-n-va]

@Spud

I missed that it was being shown tonight in advance, but happened to stumble on it for the last hour. Probably good since I tuned in before the first Sharknado hit. It was awesome, but there was one bit that I have a nit pick about.

There was a scene at the retirement home and there is a guy in a wheel chair wearing a hospital gown. Come on, they don’t wear those in retirement homes! This really kind of took me out of the moment. Everything else was great!

Perhaps it was a Montessori retirement home and he made the choice to wear that gown.

[Death_of_Rats]

I like how the Sharkenado was able to pull a woman off her feet and suck her through the roof of the hanger, but the crappy piece of corregated sheet metal was able to serve as a door to save the rest.

[deltasigma]

@Death_of_Rats

I like how the Sharkenado was able to pull a woman off her feet and suck her through the roof of the hanger, but the crappy piece of corregated sheet metal was able to serve as a door to save the rest.

It’s because the nature of space-time is unique for every particle with mass - seriously.

“Particles with mass not only experience different space-times than photons do, but each sees its own private version of space-time depending on the direction it moves in. This finding really took us by surprise,” says PhD student Andrea Dapor.

So that was completely psychentific.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@Accidental_Martyr

Sharknado 2: Zero Shark Thirty

Nice!

@deltasigma

<snip>

Sharknado Chainsaw Massacre - That’s right, this time the sharks have chainsaws too.
<snip>

I’m torn between thinking how awesome that would be, and thinking that sharks already have chainsaws in their mouths.

@DrDeth

It was the best of films, it was the worst of films.

Oh yeah.

My favorite part? When Our Hero throws away his humungous crowbar saying it’s useless, then moments later is briefly stymied by a locked door.

Yeah - I think I muttered to myself, “How about that crowbar lying there?”

@muldoonthief

During last night’s broadcast, they kept displaying tweets on screen, some from celebrities - Elizabeth Banks (“Write me a part in want to be in the sequel”) Patton Oswalt (“Close Hollywood, all future movies are pointless now”) BJ Novak (“I’m worried people won’t be ready when the real Sharknado arrives.”). Were those in the original broadcast?

Twitter was ablaze about Sharknado when it was first broadcast - I’d guess they were bringing the twitter buzz into the film.

My favorite part though, was when Fin was shooting sharks out of the air, and they’d fall as he shot them - implying they were actually flying under their own power, and not just caught in the tornado.

Heh - I hadn’t even thought of that.
The Fug Girls examine Sharknado for us. I had forgotten about the shark right at the start of the movie slurping up that guy like a spaghetti noodle.

[Cat_Whisperer]

Sharknado watch for Southern Ontario!
(Not really. )

[deltasigma]

@Cat_Whisperer

Sharknado watch for Southern Ontario!
(Not really. )

Thanks.

[deltasigma]

More evidence that Sharknado will be a cash cow - if not for SyFy then definitely for it’s studio.

The cheesy Syfy channel thriller Sharknado drummed up something besides 387,000 social media mentions last week: The studio behind the movie reports that *Sharknado’*s buzz put the afterburners on DVD sales and licensing deals, helping to fuel a near quadrupling of revenue from three years ago.
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Sharnado, a Syfy channel movie about a tornado that flings sharks from the ocean into Los Angeles, briefly dominated Twitter late last week and generated a flurry of giddy media coverage in advance of airing. Ratings, in comparison, were seen as something of a letdown, but Bales says the show set records among the youngest viewers, who Syfy is trying to attract, and helped spur other sources of revenue, including The Asylum’s first-ever overture for a contract to sell secondary merchandise like t-shirts.

“A major retailer was not going to take the movie, and the day after the premier they ordered three times the number of DVDs they normally take for a movie,” Bales says. “Europe does not share an affinity for creature movies that we have in the U.S. and Asia and so we were having some trouble selling this title in Europe. After the premiere, we sold it all over the place.”

As with other Asylum movies, Sharknado might not make for good art, but it’s proving excellent for business.

[ftg]

I’m holding out for the Sharknado vs Kickpuncher crossover.

[Cat_Whisperer]

Sharknado t-shirts! Oh yeah!

[BrassyPhrase]

My dad sent me this from one of his financial newsletters.

“After a cable channel aired a movie last week in which a tornado filled with man-eating sharks wreaks havoc on a small town, Consumer Reports surveyed insurance companies and reported that damages caused by flying sharks in a passing tornado would probably be covered by most homeowners insurance policies. Apparently, the tornado would qualify as a “wind event,” and the sharks would qualify as “falling objects.” What a relief. (Let’s call this CR’s “Great White Paper.”)”

Everyone can sleep a little safer.

[Czarcasm]

Sharknado comes to the big screen August 2nd!

[deltasigma]

@Czarcasm

Sharknado comes to the big screen August 2nd!

I love it!

Regal is hoping to create an experience similar to theatrical showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show by featuring Sharknado on the big screen.

Leeeettt’sss doooo the Shaaaarkkkk Waaarrppp Agaaaaainnnn!

:dubious:

Hmmm. Nope. Not feeling it.

[Accidental_Martyr]

@BrassyPhrase

My dad sent me this from one of his financial newsletters.

“After a cable channel aired a movie last week in which a tornado filled with man-eating sharks wreaks havoc on a** small town**, Consumer Reports surveyed insurance companies and reported that damages caused by flying sharks in a passing tornado would probably be covered by most homeowners insurance policies. Apparently, the tornado would qualify as a “wind event,” and the sharks would qualify as “falling objects.” What a relief. (Let’s call this CR’s “Great White Paper.”)”

Everyone can sleep a little safer.

Los Angeles is a small town?

[Sr_Siete]

Call me a grumpy old man, but I remember when bad movies were bad unironically. Gone are the days of waiting for the next Uwe Boll masterpiece, I guess.

By the way, I want the sequel to include both a Sharknado and a bunch of rabid wolves riding a twister. Sharknado vs. Furrycane!

[deltasigma]

@Sr_Siete

By the way, I want the sequel to include both a Sharknado and a bunch of rabid wolves riding a twister. Sharknado vs. Furrycane!

Oh that’s good. Prehistoric dire wolves brought back from extinction - Furrasic Park style.

[deltasigma]

The daily show used a clip from the movie in their bit on voting rights tonight. We’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see it (legitimately) online though.

[deltasigma]

Some news on Sharknado 2

When asked about the highly anticipated Sharknado sequel, set in New York City, Ian had some predictions about possible celebrity cameos: “I think there’s going to be a lot of cameo deaths. There are a lot of people who’ve expressed interest in Sharknado, I heard Matt Damon talking about wanting to be in it, let me tell you something right now Matt if you’re coming for my job, I will cut you, step off,” Ian said jokingly.

[deltasigma]

A post mortem on the Sharknado ‘phenomenon’ including the unusual fact that the second showing ahem ‘netted’ more viewers than the first (2.1M vs 1.4M). You can also see the orginal trailer at the link.

[Baker]

I didn’t see Sharknado before, more’s the pity, because I love the foolishness of SyFy monster movies.

Just saw a promo, tomorrow evening there will be a rebroadcast, on a double bill with Ghost Shark. And I have the evening off!!! Squeeee!!! I think the start is 6:00PM, but don’t quote me on that. Early evening anyway.