'Sharknado 2' ordered by SyFy
A water spout can be seen from Mount Sinai Harbor about 12:50 pm. on Sept. 27 2006. Credit: Lisa M. McEnany
As expected -- though perhaps not expected this quickly -- "Sharknado 2" is coming. NBC says the sequel to last week's social media hit schlockbuster "Sharknado" will arrive in 2014. Same cast -- Ian Ziering, Tara Reid and others? TBD.
Thomas Vitale, executive vice president, Programming and Original Movies, Syfy, said:
“Every once in a while, there is a perfect storm -- on television. The fans are clamoring for a sequel. Or perhaps it will be a prequel. What we can guarantee is that Sharknado 2 will be lots of fun. We’ll be announcing more details very soon. But we didn’t want our fans to worry they wouldn’t get their fill of more shark fin, I mean, fun next year.”
Of course SyFy had no choice but to go sequel: In the 10 year history of its schlockbuster franchise, no single movie has ever had the kind of social media love-scorn that "Sharknado" -- which will repeat at 7 p.m. Thursday -- generated. Nearly 400,000 tweets -- you'd think it was an Oscars' telecast or somethin'. Ratings were only OK -- 1.4 million viewers.
Lots of theories on why it did so well, but a key one: That Thursday venue, where more people, especially younger ones, were available to watch and tweet and heap scorn. Plus, great title. Plus, a general midsummer ennui in that part of the culture-obsessed population that is on Twitter so much and needs instant gratification constantly. Along came this movie about a tornado stuffed with sharks and -- voilà -- they had an instant diversion. We'll see if Twitter lightning strikes twice.
