Sharknado (film series)

Sharknado
Directed by	Anthony C. Ferrante
Produced by	David Michael Latt
Written by	Thunder Levin
Starring	Ian Ziering Tara Reid
Music by	Christopher Cano Chris Ridenhour
Production company	The Asylum Syfy Films
Distributed by	Syfy
Release dates	1: July 11, 2013 (2013-07-11) 2: July 30, 2014 (2014-07-30) 3: July 22, 2015 (2015-07-22) L: July 25, 2015 (2015-07-25) 4: July 31, 2016 (2016-07-31)
Running time	270 minutes (3 films)
Country	United States
Language	English

Sharknado is the name of a series of disaster horror films released by Syfy starting in 2013. It has since been expanded into video games and comics. A spin-off/standalone film, Lavalantula, was released in 2015.

The series stars Ian Ziering and Tara Reid as Fin and April Shepard, a husband and wife, who continue to encounter "sharknadoes" wherever they go.

Films

Sharknado (2013)

Main article: Sharknado

A freak cyclone hits Los Angeles causing man-eating sharks to be scooped up in water spouts and flood the city with shark-infested seawater. Bar-owner and surfer Fin (Ian Ziering) sets out with his friends to rescue his estranged wife, April (Tara Reid), and their teenage daughter, Claudia, before the "sharknado" reaches them.

Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014)

Main article: Sharknado 2: The Second One

While Fin and April are in New York City to promote April's book, How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters, about the Los Angeles sharknado, the city is hit by a severe storm causing new "sharknadoes" to emerge.

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015)

Main article: Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!

Following the events of the previous film, Fin and April have remarried and are expecting another child. For his heroics in the "sharknado" battles in Los Angeles and New York, Fin is in Washington, D.C. to receive an award from the president. However, when he is there he encounters a new "sharknado" which begins to make its way down the "Feast Coast" to Florida.

Sharknado: The 4th Awakens (2016)

Sharknado 4 was confirmed to follow upon Sharknado 3's premiere. Sharknado 3 concludes with a cliffhanger regarding whether or not April is killed by falling wreckage. An ad after the film promotes a Twitter campaign offering fans the chance to decide her fate with the hashtags "#AprilLives" or "#AprilDies", with the results to be revealed in the fourthcoming Sharknado 4 which will air July 2016.Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Ryan Newman, Cassie Scerbo and David Hasselhoff will reprise their roles from previous films. New castmembers include Cody Linley replacing Chuck Hittinger as Matt Shepard, Imani Hakim as Gabrielle, a soldier and Matt's girlfriend, Gary Busey as Wilford Wexler, April's rich father, Cheryl Tiegs as Raye Shepard, Fin's mother, Masiela Lusha as Gemini, Fin's cousin, Tommy Davidson as Aston Reynolds, playboy tech billionaire and Astro-X, Kenya Moore as Monique, a hotel manager working for Reynolds, Cynthia Bailey as Addison, a tech analyst, and Maya Stojan as Romy, Wilford's assistant and Anthony rogers as Gil Shepard.

Spin-offs

Lavalantula (2015)

Set in Los Angeles, Colton West (Steve Guttenberg) is a 90s action movie star who is dealing with a halting career as well as trouble with the law. When the volcanoes in the Santa Monica mountains erupt, it sends an avalanche of fire-breathing, lava-spewing arachnids who begin to wreak havoc on the City of Angels and some of its most historic landmarks. It is up to West as well as the citizens of Los Angeles to stop the "lavalantulas".

Finn and Colton both appear in this film, linking it in the same setting as the Sharknado tetraology.

2 Lava 2 Lantula (2016)

In July 2015, after the premiere of Lavalantula, a sequel was announced set for summer 2016. No cast members have been announced to return yet though the plan is to bring them all back.

Locations

• Los Angeles, California is the setting of the first Sharknado and Lavalantula films
• New York, New York is the setting of the second Sharknado film
• Washington DC is the setting of the start of the third Sharknado film
• Orlando Florida is the setting of the end of the third Sharknado film
• Riverdale is where Archie v. Sharknado takes place
• the locations where the fourth Sharknado film and second Lavalantula film will be set is not yet known

Recurring cast and characters

List indicator(s)

• This table only includes characters which have appeared in more than one film in the series.
• A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.
• A ^C indicates a cameo role.

Characters	Main Films				Spin-off Films
	Sharknado	Sharknado 2: The Second One	Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!	Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens	Lavalantula	2 Lava 2 Lantula
Finley Allen "Fin" Shepard	Ian Ziering				Ian ZieringC
April Dawn Wexler Shepard	Tara Reid
Claudia Shepard	Aubrey Peeples		Ryan Newman
Nova Clarke	Cassie Scerbo		Cassie Scerbo
Matt Shepard	Chuck Hittinger			Cody Linley
Martin Brody		Mark McGrath
Gilbert Grayson Shepard			David Hasselhoff
Colton West			Steve GuttenbergC		Steve Guttenberg

Reception

For more details on the reception of each film, see the "Reception" section on each film's article.

Ratings

Film	Release date	Budget	Avg. viewers (in millions)	Ref(s)
Sharknado	July 11, 2013 (2013-07-11)	$2 million	1.37
Sharknado 2: The Second One	July 30, 2014 (2014-07-30)	More than $1.5 million	3.9
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!	July 22, 2015 (2015-07-22)	$2.4 million	2.81
Lavalantula	July 25, 2015 (2015-07-25)

Critical and public response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes
Sharknado	82% (17 reviews)
Sharknado 2: The Second One	59% (27 reviews)
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!	34% (32 reviews)
Lavalantula	41% (56 user ratings)

Other media

Sharknado: The Video Game

Main article: Sharknado: The Video Game

Sharknado: The Video Game is a 2014 endless running video game developed by Other Ocean Interactive and published by Majesco Entertainment. It was based on Sharknado 2: The Second One and was released for iOS on July 25, 2014.

How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters: Fight Back When Monsters and Mother Nature Attack

How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters: Fight Back When Monsters and Mother Nature Attack is a book by Andrew Shaffer, a real-life version of the book-within-the-movie Sharknado 2, by Andrew Shaffer.

Archie vs. Sharknado

Archie vs. Sharknado is a one-shot comic book published by Archie Comics in 2015 as a tie-in to Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!. It deals with Riverdale being hit by a storm of sharknadoes and Archie and the gang having to deal with them as it makes its way down the "Feast Coast". The one-shot was written by series director, Anthony C. Ferrante, with art by longtime Archie artist, Dan Parent.