While the prospect of Tara Reid’s buzz-saw enabled appendage wreaking havoc on Congress as sharks rain down around her creates mental images too amazing to fathom, reports that the third installment of the Sharknado franchise will take place in our nation’s capital are slightly premature.
Several movie and science-fiction oriented websites were abuzz in the past several days after Showbiz 411, citing unnamed sources, reported that the next installment will likely take place in Washington, D.C. That sent the Internet into overdrive, with commenters speculating on possible cameos – global warming denier Ted Cruz, for one – and potential titles for the TV Movie – Sharknado 3: Fin-dependence Day.
Syfy officials weren’t letting on about their intentions.
"We've reached no official decision on Sharknado 3 locations," a Syfy spokesman said Friday.
Sources also said that screenwriter Thunder Levin, who penned the first two installments of the franchise – is in negotiations to write the third. However, no deal has been reached yet.
The Sharknado franchise, with Reid and former Beverly Hills 90210 star Ian Ziering, has been a big hit for Syfy, with the first installment – set in Los Angeles – setting social media site Twitter aflame with more than 300,000 tweets. That mark was smashed in the second installment – aptly named Sharknado2: The Second One and set in New York City – which generated an estimated 1 billion Twitter impressions and attracted 3.9 million viewers to its July 30 premiere.
Syfy has masterfully exploited the Internet and social media to drum up interest in the Sharknado franchise – it held a Twitter naming contest for the second movie and consistently bombarded the web with promos for books, video games and other merchandise associated with the picture.
Back in August, a petition surfaced on Change.org to persuade Syfy to set Sharknado 3 in Washington, making its case with tongue firmly planted in cheek: “DC is a city filled with history, majesty, and democracy. Most importantly, DC is a city that deserves to be pounded relentlessly by an inexplicable tornado filled with sharks,” the petition said.
While DC makes perfect sense as the setting for Sharknado 3 – the Potomac River is an outlet to Chesapeake Bay and the ocean, for instance – we are talking about a tornado full of sharks, so other more land-locked locations like Chicago and Las Vegas have also been mentioned as possible sites. And there are a host of other possibilities on both coasts. We humbly submit, for Syfy’s consideration: Sharknado 3: Sleeveless in Seattle; Sharknado 3: Mayhem in Miami; and Sharknado 3: I Left My Heart [And Lungs] in San Francisco.
Wherever it is set, Sharknado 3 is expected to air on Syfy in the summer of 2015.
