So, who’s up for dodging giant shark-slinging tornadoes at midnight?
Up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s a … shark! A super-sized storm sucks sharks from the ocean and hurls them onto land in the Syfy instant cult classic “Sharknado,” presented by NCM Fathom Events and The Asylum for one night only in select movie theaters for a special midnight showing Friday (starting at 12:05 a.m. local time).
“Sharknado” premiered on Syfy on July 11, becoming an immediate worldwide sensation, generating nearly 5,000 tweets a minute. The special theatrical is said to include never-before-seen footage.
Tickets for “Sharknado” are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. “Sharknado” appears on the big screen in more than 200 select movie theaters through NCM’s exclusive Digital Broadcast Network. For a complete list of theater locations and prices, go to the NCM Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).
The B-movie behemoth will show locally at 12:05 a.m. Friday at the Regal Spotlight Stadium 14 in Norman.
“The Asylum is very excited to give more fans the opportunity to see Sharknado the way it should be with the community that has embraced this film on a global basis,” said Paul Bales, partner, in a news release.
Produced by The Asylum, “Sharknado” is the story of beachside bar regulars including owner Fin (Ian Ziering, “Beverly Hills 90210″), bartender Nova (Casie Scerbo, “Make It Or Break It”) and local drunk George (John Heard, “Home Alone”) as they team up with Fin’s ex-wife April (Tara Reid, “Scrubs”) to investigate the ecological nightmare that has sharks swimming through the streets of Los Angeles and falling from the skies
“’Sharknado’ was an instant hit with fans – and celebrities – from the moment they first saw it, creating a social media phenomenon on July 11 with nearly 400,000 social mentions,” said Shelly Maxwell, executive vice president for NCM Fathom Events, in the release. “Imagine sharks invading from the skies on 40-foot screens in movie theaters nationwide.”
Maxwell adds, the “special midnight showing is a first for Fathom and will answer the age-old question: Who knew sharks could fly?”
Entertainment Weekly described it as “… an hour-and-a-half of ridiculous, slapstick, theatrical, scientifically-impossible fun” and New York Daily News said “’Sharknado’ is bad to the bone. It’s absurd. It’s ridiculous. If you’re a fan of low-budget horror movies and you miss it, you will regret it for the rest of your life.”
“Hosting ‘Sharknado’ at midnight is a tremendous alternative entertainment choice for our guests and Regal is proud that the forecast is for ‘Sharknado’ to hit approximately 200 of our theaters all across the country,” said Ray Nutt, senior vice president for Regal Entertainment Group, in the release.
“Sharknado 2” will premiere on Syfy in July 2014.
Asylum executive David Latt, which produced the Twitter-friendly television movie alongside Syfy, has refuted reports that Reid would not be invited back for “Sharknado 2.”
According to EW.com, Latt emphasized that everything was on the table right now with respect to casting for the yet-untitled New York-set sequel, but Reid certainly hasn’t been fired and was great to work with on the first “Sharknado” set.
“We talked the storyline through, and there are no restrictions,” he explained to EW.com about the early meetings for part two. “So it could be the family that goes over, it could be a prequel before Ian [Ziering]‘s family was involved in it. It could be 10 years in the future. … There are so many possibilities. So if the story lends itself to the original actors being in part two, hopefully they’re available and hopefully they won’t charge us too much and hopefully they’ll be in it.”
