[FONT face=Arial color=#000066 size=4]Fang-tastic! 'Snakes on a Plane' strikes a pop-culture nerve
[/FONT][FONT class=bodyDate face=Arial color=#666666 size=2]By Heather V. Eng/ Movies
[/FONT][FONT class=bodyDate][FONT size=2][FONT face=Arial][FONT color=#666666]Monday, April 3, 2006 - Updated: [/FONT][FONT color=#990000]10:22 AM EST[/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT class=bodyFont][FONT class=headline face=Arial size=4]T[/FONT][FONT face=Arial size=2]he first summer blockbuster movie has exploded - four months before anyone will even get a chance to see it.
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"Snakes on a Plane" won't be released until August, but thousands have already been bitten by the upcoming film's hype.
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The action flick stars Samuel L. Jackson as an FBI agent traveling on a plane full of passengers - and, as if you couldn't guess, full of snakes.
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That information alone has been enough to create a cult following and spawn a flood of mock movie trailers, song parodies, T-shirts and blogs.
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"It's that stupid pop-culture phenomenon that you become so excited about that you question your own taste," said Elisha Yaffe, an Emerson College senior. Last Tuesday, Yaffe hosted a "Snakes on a Plane" comedy night at ImprovBoston that featured "Snakes" music videos (they can be viewed online at www.youtube.com).
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"Snakes on a Plane" breaks the standard movie hype mold. Fanatic followings are usually tied to popular books, such as the "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings" franchises. Or, in the case of the "Star Wars" prequels, the hype is mostly nostalgia-based, according to Eric Gordon, professor of new media at Emerson College.
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But with little prodding from the studio, "Snakes on a Plane" stirred buzz despite a lack of detail about the film's content.
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"You've got the title, combined with Samuel L. Jackson," Gordon said. "(The hype) has nothing to do with the film. Fantasies run wild about the concept of snakes on a plane and Samuel L. Jackson."
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Thanks to Internet blogs and social networking sites such as MySpace and Friendster, "Snakes" fans have instant audiences for their creations.
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"The joke is so easy to apply to other areas," said Brian Finkelstein, founder of "Snakes on a Blog." "People hear the title and say, 'I can be part of this, too.' "
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Finkelstein's blog is one such creation, as well as a forum for Snake-aholics. His site features fan-created "Snakes" movie posters, comic strips, songs - and even a "Snakes on a Sudoku" puzzle.
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New Line Cinema, the film's producer, has reacted to the growing anticipation. In March, the studio shot five days' worth of new footage, which will change the rating from PG-13 to R. In one added scene, Jackson now shouts, "I want these (expletive) snakes off the (expletive) plane!" An audio file, with a Jackson sound-a-like uttering the line, had been circulating the Internet, and New Line inserted it into the film to avoid disappointing fans.
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Brandon Gray, president and publisher of BoxOfficeMojo.com, warns that people may enjoy the title more than the actual movie.
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"It's a brilliant title because of its simplicity," Gray said. "Marketing-wise, it serves all the functions a title needs to. It lets people know what they're going to get. You don't want to confuse people, you want people to be able to pronounce it and remember it. And it succeeds on all fronts.
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"But," he said, "I wouldn't expect the movie itself to be that brilliant."
[img title="Mark Houghton plays one of the terrified passengers in 'Snakes on a Plane.'" src="vny!://theedge.bostonherald.com/images/movies/snakes040306.jpg"]
[FONT face=Arial color=#666666 size=2]Mark Houghton plays one of the terrified passengers in 'Snakes on a Plane.'[/FONT]
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