I’ll admit that perhaps we here at Movies on Up are a little late to the Sharknado party, about a month late.  I’m going to blame it on Dave’s aversion to watching any sea-based horror movie not called Deep Star Six and my general ignorance of what may or may not be “trending” on the “Twitter”.

The latest effort from Syfy and The Asylum premiered July 11^th to an audience of about 1.4 million.  While that number is not out or the ordinary for Syfy pictures, Chupacabra vs. The Alamo hit 1.5 million back in March, the sheer volume of tweets sent flying that Thursday evening in July has made Sharknado a national treasure.  At its peak, the shark-tweet-nado reached around 5,000 tweets per minute.  Which caused Syfy to unleash an encore one week later which eclipsed the premiere numbers by about 500,000 viewers.

This is a bit unusual.  The prolonged and seemingly increased interest in the Ian Ziering/Tara Reid film prompted Syfy to schedule a 3^rd showing the following week, snagging over 2 million viewers making it the most watched Syfy original movie ever.  If you number yourself amongst the uninitiated, clear your schedule now for Syfy’s final summer airing on August 22^nd.  Revel in your post-nado bliss by sticking around and checking out the almost as ridiculous-looking Ghost Shark to premiere right after.  Ahh, synergy.

But not even basic cable could contain the fury that is Sharknado.  Special midnight screenings were held at select theatres early in August.  A sequel had been greenlit and just yesterday, thanks again to the Twitterverse for film’s title, we will be blessed with Sharknado 2: The Second One next July.

So, what’s the takeaway?  Is Shaknado a great movie?  No, spoiler alert.  Is it the worst movie you’ll ever see?  No.  Does it live somewhere in that so-bad-it’s-good area of town?  I guess.  Sharknado is a B-movie.  It’s Them! or The Alligator People.  The difference is, Sharknado knows it and owns it.  The Asylum will never be confused with Pixar, but they’ve got a formula and it’s working.  Sharknado is more Troll 2 than Jaws, but at times, it’s as much fun as either.

Stay tuned, a Sharknado-inspired Movies on Up may be on the way.  Presuming I can convince Dave it’s a better use of his time than watching Percy Jackson.  If you agree, direct the full force of your tweets @MoviesOnUp.