9 Films That Actually Benefited From Bad Reviews
5. Sharknado (2013)
The director of Sharknado, Anthony C.Ferrante, didn't seem to care about what the film's critical reception would be, summarizing the plot in an interview with Uproxx as follows. 'There's a flood. And a storm. Don't worry about it.' No fear of Oscar-Baiting here...
The film opened to a luke-warm viewing figure of 1.5 million viewers on Syfy - lower than the average at the time for a film on the channel. However, the film began to trend on Twitter. Fans and celebrities alike revelled in discussing the film and by the time Sharknado was aired again a week later, the figures jumped to 1.89 million viewers before hitting 2.1 million a week after that.
Going on to become the most watched original film encore in Syfy history, boosting production company, The Asylum, from $5 million revenue in 2009 to $19 million in 2013.
Though critics hardly lauded the release, they definitely saw the film for what it was, a 'so bad it's good' film for a new generation. It could be confessed that the original impetus behind the flick was to create a legit action movie based on a cool premise but with this kind of reception and undoubted success, Sharknado (and it's numerous sequels) leaned into what made it a shock hit, poking fun at itself for our enjoyment.