‘Sharknado’ Channels ‘Barbie’ as B-Movie Hit Gets New Poster, Trailer Ahead of 10th Anniversary Theatrical Release (Exclusive)

A decade after it became an unexpected smash on the SyFy Channel, spawning a low-budget B-movie franchise in the process, Sharknado — in which Tara Reid, Ian Ziering and John Heard battle a tornado that sucks up great whites and hammerheads and spits them out over Los Angeles — is about to hit cinemas for the very first time as part of a two-day 10th anniversary celebration.

And to help promote the return of its most famous creation, producers at The Asylum have, not unlike in their infamous slate of so-called mockbuster titles, turned to the current movie-of-the-moment for some inspiration. In an alternative special poster revealed exclusively by The Hollywood Reporter, Sharknado is given a Barbie twist, with Barbie seen driving her pink convertible into a pink hurricane flinging killer sharks (some pink) from the sky, and Ken wielding a chainsaw. It’s unlikely this came with any approval from Mattel.

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The “fully remastered” version of Sharknado will release on Aug. 15 and 16 and reportedly features hundreds of new special effects, including “new kills” and “new thrills” according to the trailer. “More sharks, more ‘nado,” it proudly announces.

In a detailed oral history of Sharknado published in 2018, the creative team behind the film, including director Anthony C. Ferrante, explained how it began life as a throwaway line in another low-budget feature (about a murderous leprechaun) that somehow ended up in a pitch session during the American Film Market. Not expected to go anywhere, on July 13 the $1 million film suddenly became an overnight cultural phenomenon on the SyFy channel, leading to five sequels and a Las Vegas musical, cementing The Asylum’s name in B-movie infamy.

See the trailer for Sharknado‘s theatrical release below.

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