LOS ANGELES — 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.
(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 carnivorously 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 another showing Saturday night 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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