EXCLUSIVE: Sharknado created quite the media and twitter storm in the United States when the TV movie aired on Syfy this past week and now Syfy UK are getting in on the action. A source at the channel informs me that they have acquired the UK rights to this TV movie, with plans to air it in September.
Sharknado – Syfy’s latest in a long line of low budget movies, that in the past has included titles such as Jersey Shore Shark Attack and Sharktopus – tells the story of a supersized storm that sucks sharks from the ocean and hurls them onto land in Los Angeles. The regulars of a beachside bar, 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) 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.
My source also went on to say that airing Sharknado in the UK a lot closer to is US premiere may have proved beneficial. But one has to doubt just how true that assertion may be. Despite a strong presence on Twitter, with Syfy saying that the move was generating 5000 tweets a minute, it (as is often the case) did not correlate to strong ratings, with Sharknado pulling in a mere 1.37 million viewers and a 0.4 A18-49 rating. That said, Syfy are not deterred and are already planning a sequel.
