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Sharknado fever continues.
Syfy’s made-for-TV film starring Tara Reid and Ian Ziering will hit theaters around the country for special midnight showings on Friday night — and it’s sold out in several theaters.
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The campy pic set in Los Angeles with sharks in tornadoes destroying the city is being shown on 200 screens across the country at midnight on Friday. It’s a very limited theatrical release for the film, but it’s doing strong business.
According to Fandango, showings in New York, Boston and Seattle have already sold out, with some theaters adding additional shows to meet demand.
At the Regal Union Square Stadium 14 in New York, two midnight shows have already sold out, prompting the theater to add another showing. Addition screenings were also added at Boston’s Regal Fenway Stadium 13 & RPX and Seattle’s Regal Thornton Place Stadium 14 & Imax after selling out their initial showings.
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“It’s unprecedented for a TV movie to be released in theaters and do this well in limited engagements,” says Harry Medved, spokesperson for movie ticketing service Fandango, “but then again, cult movies are more fun to watch with a packed audience yelling their favorite lines back at the big screen. You need full audience participation to truly appreciate a film like Sharknado.”
Sharkando became a pop culture phenomenon when it seemed to hold Twitter captive during its July 11 premiere. It went on to hit a ratings high in its third broadcast on Syfy on July 29, bringing in 2.1 million viewers. That’s up from the modest 1.4 million who tuned in to the inaugural telecast and the 1.9 million who watched the July 17 encore.
Syfy has already given a green light to a New York-set Sharknado sequel, scheduled to premiere in July 2014.
E-mail: Rebecca.Ford@THR.com
Twitter: @Beccamford
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