James Pursaill
posted 9 August 2006

The premise is so amusingly awful, it has to induce a wry smile in all but the most hardened film critics. On board a flight over the Pacific Ocean, an assassin, bent on killing a passenger who's a witness in protective custody, lets loose a time-release crate full of deadly snakes. Yet this concept, so unashamedly bad that it harkens back to the golden age of Ed Wood's B-movie cinema, has produced one of modern Hollywood's most unexpected, yet affectionate phenomena.

Triggered by a humorous blog entry by scriptwriter Josh Friedman, the buzz spread across the internet to inspire songs, clothing, posters, parody films, a board game and even its own novel. Not only has this guaranteed substantial box offices takings for one of New Line Cinema's minor releases but, more importantly, the fanbase has grown so large that it has influenced the production of Snakes on a Plane itself.

In recognition of this unprecedented internet interest, New Line Cinema ordered five days of additional shooting in early March 2006 (principal photography had wrapped in September 2005). While re-shoots normally imply problems with a film, the producers opted to add new scenes to the film to take the movie from PG-13 into R-rated territory and bring the movie in line with the growing fan expectation. Among the reported additions is a line that originated as an internet parody of Samuel L Jackson's traditional movie persona: 'That's it! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!'.

Jackson plays the FBI agent assigned to protect his passenger from the slippery situation, and purportedly only took the job because of the title. When the studio decided to change the title to the more sensible 'Pacific Air Flight 121', Jackson replied, 'What are you doing here? It's not Gone with the Wind. It's not On the Waterfront. It's Snakes on a Plane!' On March 2, 2006, the studio reverted the title back to Snakes on a Plane, in part due to pressure from Jackson and outraged fans.

Perhaps the influence of the fanbase should not come as a surprise - reality shows like Big Brother and Pop Idol have already latched onto the idea of consumers shaping the outcome of their product, and perhaps the 'SoaP' phenomenon (its affectionate abbreviation) is simply the natural extension of this. Certainly, intense fan reaction to movies has occurred before, but most often with titles that have established themselves in other media, such as comic book movies or fantasy novels, before making their way to the screen. Original movies that develop such a devoted prerelease following are extremely uncommon. Artisan Entertainment pulled off that trick in 1999 with its viral internet campaign for The Blair Witch Project, but that success has not been easily duplicated.

What makes Snakes on a Plane important is the unique way New Line Cinema has reacted to its fans. The producers were shrewd enough to let go of the creative reins when they saw that the 'blogosphere' had taken it over and was telling the story differently. Brian Finklestein, who started SnakesonaBlog.com, explains it in a nutshell. 'A lot of what's fun about this is that people are doing everything on their own. If the studio became involved, it would lose whatever charm and cache it has. I've gotten phone calls from marketers asking what they can do to make this work for them. The answer is that there's not much you can do -- except not sue your audience. The music industry can learn from this.' (Indeed, MTV is launching an interactive channel called FLUX in an attempt to compete with more popular streaming music sites....)

The official SoaP site, while suitably hammy, supports Finklestein's claim. It's links include a 'fansite of the week' and a 'snakes on myspace' section - they are even sponsoring a competition for fan songs to be included in the film's official soundtrack (winners include 'Snakes on the Brain' by Captain Ahab and the official fan-band Cobra Starship). While nurturing its fanbase carefully, New Line Cinema is taking care not to directly 'interfere' - thus preserving the spontaneity and unconventional creativity that made the terrible concept so much fun in the first place. If a more intimate relationship between the studio and fans can turn Snakes on a Plane into a hit, then it is an approach we'll be seeing many more studios adopt in the future - which can only be a good thing.

Released 18 August 2006.