After winning Twitter with the made-for-social movie Sharknado earlier this month, Syfy announced today that it’s planning a New York-based sequel, and fans can suggest names for the new flick with the #Sharknado hashtag on Twitter. In fact, if you head over to @SyfyMovies right now, you can see a steady stream of suggestions, ranging from Sharkpocalypse and Shark Harder to Sharknado II: The Wrath of Sharka Khan.
With sharks falling from the sky in Los Angeles, TMZ called Sharknado the “best worst movie ever made.” The movie sparked 318,232 tweets during the broadcast — 17% of all the tweets sent about TV the night of July 11, according to SocialGuide. It also captured three trending topics at the same time: #sharknado, #syfy, and #tarareid.
“The fans are clamoring for a sequel. Or perhaps it will be a prequel. What we can guarantee is that Sharknado 2 will be lots of fun,” said Thomas Vitale, Syfy’s EVP of programming and original movies, in a statement released today.
You heard @JimmyFallon, a #Sharknado is hitting NYC! Tweet your sequel subtitles to @SyfyMovies to name the movie! pic.twitter.com/lz2ztqpA9O
— SyfyMovies (@SyfyMovies) July 17, 2013
Sharknado tapped Twitter’s sarcastic funny bone, and Syfy capitalized on it. “We know going in that people already love to tweet about these movies, so our goal is to foster the conversation and amplify it,” explained Craig Engler, SVP at @Syfy Digital. “For instance, we’ll retweet fun posts from our viewers on the @Syfy feed, which the fans LOVE. It gives them their 15 minutes of fame on Twitter and shows them that we’re listening and playing along.”
While it stole the show on Twitter, Sharknado claimed just 1.4 million viewers. But given the amount of sustained social buzz and media coverage, it’s a good bet that Syfy will beat that Nielsen number when Sharknado 2 debuts next year.