‘Sharknado’ to hit theaters for midnight showings Aug. 2
Talk about jumping the shark.
On Aug. 2, Syfy’s surprise social media juggernaut “Sharknado” -- a movie about a shark-spewing twister that devastates Los Angeles -- is set to make the leap from basic cable to 40-foot movie screens.
Presented by NCM Fathom Events and the Asylum, the over-the-top, made-for-TV eco-disaster flick will play for a special one-night-only midnight engagement at 200 theaters across the country including downtown Los Angeles’ L.A. Live and the Alhambra Renaissance 14. (A complete list of locations and ticket prices can be found at www.FathomEvents.com.)
The schlocky B-movie (which stars “Beverly Hills 90210’s” Ian Ziering and Tara Reid as beach bums who combat the great whites and hammerheads carniverously rampaging through the City of Angels) surfed a viral tide to national prominence when it first aired on Syfy on July 11. “Sharknado” logged a staggering 400,000 social media mentions and clocked a hefty 5,000 tweets per minute, according to the network’s calculations.
Although the so-ridiculous-it’s-genius buzz didn’t translate into a ratings bonanza -- with just 1.4 million viewers tuning in for its first airing -- it upped that number a bit with an encore showing that garnered 1.9 million viewers. (It will get a showing Saturday night at 9 p.m. during the channel’s “Sharkathon” programming block.) With those numbers, Syfy has already ordered a sequel with “Sharknado 2” set to air on the network next July.
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Twitter: @__chrislee
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