BIG news today in the world of schlocky animal attack films. While David R. Ellis‘ Snakes On a Plane didn’t quite live up to the large internet buzz, he has extensive plans for his upcoming feature. The Final Destination director spoke with Vulture about what could be the most important part of this B-movie films, the title. While initially sold as Shark Night 3D, the director exclaims he wants a more explanatory title:
“I hated the original title [Shark Night 3D], too,” says Ellis, reached in his editing bay, “so at our weekly production meetings, I made everyone on the crew come up with names — Chums, Fins, Terror on the Lake — but they all seemed kind of cheesy. And so until I hear a better name, I like what we’ve got right now: Untitled 3D Shark Thriller. The title says everything you need to know: ‘We’ve got sharks.’ ‘It’s in 3D.’ and, ‘It’s a thriller.‘”
While nothing has been decided, title-wise, why not have horror producer aficionado Roger Corman comment on the situation? Vulture interviewed the subject of the Sundance 2011 A&E doc, Corman’s World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel, and he feared “it may be too hip for the room,” but he also had thoughts of these types of titles:
“In the last couple years, I’ve done a couple of pictures for the SyFy Channel: Dinocroc and Dinoshark. They both got very high ratings. Then SyFy Channel called me and said, ‘You’ve come with these titles, and they’ve done well. We’ve come up with one, and wanted to know if you wanted to make it.'”
“So I said, ‘Let me hear it.'”
“They said, ‘Sharktopus.'”
“I said, ‘No way. Not interested. My theory is this: You can go up to a certain level of insanity with your titles. Dinocroc and Dinoshark are within those limits. Go over it, and the audience turns on you.’ But [SyFy] wore me down, and I agreed to make it. What happens? Sharktopus got the highest rating of any original movie on the channel in five years. Which shows that the level of insanity is higher than I thought it was, and that even at my age — and I’m 84 — you can learn something.
His next feature Piranhaconda, “which goes above the limit of what [he] previously thought was the limit of insanity” shoots in March. Untitled 3D Shark Thriller, hopefully keeps that title, and sees a release in September 2011.
What do you think of the title of David R. Ellis’ next film?