Surprising fact of the day: Red Bull DID NOT pay for product placement in Snakes on a Plane.

This is going to be long, please forgive me that:

I spent the last eight months of my life blogging about a film called Snakes on a Plane. I started my blog on a lark, hoping to get myself invited to the Hollywood premiere. I spent the eight months building towards the day I would walk down the red carpet in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and pass through the big doors into the premiere. The free popcorn once I got inside was, admittedly, an afterthought.

I’ve spent the last few days uncoiling (ha) and traveling home to DC. I haven’t yet written up a description of what happened, but clearly it’s time.

I got to the theater early in the afternoon, around 5:30, to pick up tickets. After being rebuffed by security a few times (they REALLY didn’t care to listen to why I was trying to get past them), I was able to find Nicole from New Line and got myself onto the fringe of the red carpet. It was a little bit early so I picked up my tickets and left for a quick dinner with my friends (I was ultimately able to finagle three of them into the premiere: my girlfriend, Jon and New Yorker). We were joined at dinner by Jeff Rowland who ultimately would sit behind me during the film. On the way to dinner, I met Reba Mac, who had managed to get herself invited at the last minute (Jakob couldn’t go, so his father kindly offered her his tickets) and was VERY excited to be there.

After dinner at a closeby Italian restaurant, we returned for the official “red carpet” event. I arrived at 7:45 and was huddled into the group of bloggers who had been invited to interview people at Comic-Con and who had managed to make it to LA for the premiere. I was only with them briefly, however, for they were spirited away to talk to press and I was asked to wait behind. I stood around for a few minutes until Nicole came back to walk me through the red carpet.

Man, it was weird.

First they walked me down the red carpet for photographers. Admittedly, only about a third were interested in taking my picture. I was very VERY hurt. They took a lot of pictures of real celebrities, and one or two or three or four of me (the last two from Hutchins Photo):

After walking down the red carpet, I was shuttled to talk to a number of press people. Some of them were major, like the AP, Reuters and the LA Times. I don’t know who this guy worked for, but he had a hell of a mustache. Others were, uh, less major like JewReview.net and the guy with the turban and the sock puppet (I wish I had written down his website, I’m curious if he used any of my admittedly unfunny interview).

As I approached the end of the interview gauntlet, I saw DC Lugi (David Coyne) doing his own interviews. He watched me do my final interview (with the SoaP DVD people) and was inspired by my performance to go back and re-do his interview with them. I think he was parodying my enthusiastic interview - it’s an honor to be gently mocked by DC Lugi.

After finishing all the interviews I went back and watched the real celebrities coming in. I only got a few pictures of them, but I made sure to get a few blurry pictures of Samuel L. Jackson. The press was, understandably, a lot more interested in them.

Eventually I entered the big theater, grabbed a free popcorn and sat down inside. It’s a BIG theater, and it’s really nice. Red velvet, or whatever… I was assigned to a seat in the 5th row, which was a little bit close, but the chairs were designed to rock way back, so it wasn’t too bad. Anyway, it just meant I was closer to the action. I spoke briefly to a gentleman in an orange suit who was sitting behind me, as well as a woman that was sitting next to me who worked at American Airlines. She had managed to insert a section about Snakes on a Plane into their official training manual. She showed it to me. It was pretty cool.

At about 9:20, David Ellis came out to introduce the movie. Basically he started to thank people, then said screw it, and called for them to start the movie. The curtains pulled back and, for the first time in my life, the movie started without a single commercial or trailer. It was amazing.

The title came up, and people cheered.

People have described their experiences with audiences in the comments to previous posts and all I can say is that New Line was wise enough to invite enough bloggers and other fans to the premiere (through MySpace contests and other means) that people were genuinely excited to be there and knew when to cheer. It was raucous. My experience with the crowd mirrors that of people who went to packed houses on opening night.

And Snakes on a Plane was, of course, Snakes on a Plane. After nearly year of build up I have to say that the movie exceeded my expectations. It’s actually sad that because I had run this webpage, I knew what to expect. I knew about the various sex organ bitings, I had presumed the window shooting… a lot of what I saw was what I was expecting to see… and yet, it wasn’t boring. That was always the fear, from day one, that the movie might not be good OR bad, but dull. This movie, as you can tell from reading the hundreds of comments posted here in the last few days, was not dull. It had snakes, it had planes, it had Sam Jackson, it had swearing. It had, in short, everything we were looking for.

It was somewhat obvious where the new scenes had been added. It’s too bad the movie hadn’t been conceived as an R-rated feature from day 1, but that’s ok. We got it in the end. And so did Keenan’s fellow bodyguard.

Afterwards I went to a blogger afterparty. There was a nicer afterparty on a rooftop somewhere with the celebrities. Unfortunately, I wasn’t asked to hobnob at that one. Oh well, maybe next time. Then, eventually, I went home and, eventually, fell asleep.

It had been a very long ride to get to the premiere. After either months of work, I was pretty sleepy.

So, while some of you have asked to thank me:

I would like to thank you. This whole experience wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for everybody else who made this website functional. Your enthusiasm and your talents have made Snakes on a Plane what it is. I know that, New Line knows that, and from reading the newspapers the last few days, the rest of the world knows that. With the exception of one comic, I created no content. All I did was centralize what the rest of you were doing. While I can’t say thank you to all of you one by one, I can say thank you to you as a collective. This whole thing has been amazing, and everything you have done has been recognized for the truly new and unique accomplishment that it was. And, of course, it got me to the premiere. Thank you.

This was a fun ride, maybe we’ll do it again sometime.

By the way, for anyone who is interested, I’m planning on moving forward with my previously stated idea in the next six months. I’ll let you know more when I can put together some details.

So, I have been recuperating from this whole experience for the last two days. I guess I haven’t yet written up what the premiere was like. I’ve had a number of duties to attend to, including an engagement party, but I’ll get a full post about my experiences up Sunday evening after a long, probably snake-filled, flight.

First Box Office reports are in for Friday:

1. Snakes on a Plane - $6,130,000
2. Talladega Nights - $4,130,000
3. Accepted - $3,605,000
4. Step Up - $3,500,000

Snakes also made $1,400,000 on Thursday, which is not accounted for in the number above.

Unrelated: did anybody tape my appearance on the Today Show or CNBC? I’d like to see them.

The official reviews from major papers are starting to stream in.

• The Boston Globe - 3.5 out of 4 stars
• Chicago Sun Times - 2 out of 4 stars
• The Toronto Star - 3 out of 4 stars
• The New York Times - negative positive
  
• The New York Post - 3 out of 4 stars
• Washington Times - 2.5 out of 4 stars
• Philadelphia Inquirer - negative
• Boston Herald - C+
• USA Today - 2.5 out of 4 stars
• The AP - 3.5 out of 4 stars

Please post new reviews in the comments.

Update at 2:06 am PST: I am back for the evening. If you’re looking for an evaluation of the film, you should check out the comments below, people seem to have had pretty much the same reaction I had.

More premiere pictures after the break, in order to help my poor, poor server, I’ve had to make them slightly less visible.

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Hello everybody, this is going to be my last post before heading out for the premiere. I’m leaving the hotel in a little over an hour and should be picking up my tickets at about 5:30 (Pacific Time). We then have a little down time… the red carpet is at 8:00 (Pacific Time) and the premiere should follow shortly after that.

Thanks to Treo I’m going to be posting live updates from the Red Carpet and Mann’s Chinese Theater. I couldn’t figure out how to get images centered, but other than that the Treo posts should be identical to the rest of this blog (except with blurrier photos).

Sadly, I didn’t quite get to 1,000,000 visitors before leaving for the premiere. I’m currently holding at around 975,000. I’m going to give myself until midnight Pacific time, so maybe there will be a late night push and I’ll be able to cross the threshold. Here’s the constantly updated count:

And here’s a few tickets toget you in the mood:

Wish me luck.

Today is a day for anticipation.  Feel free to use this space to muse on what impact this film has had on your life for the past 12 months, what the film will be like, or anything else that’s on your mind.

Due to the intense interest in this site today, I’ve shortened the homepage to help keep the server working. You’ll need to use the links at the bottom of the page to access older content.

Snakes on Stuff is giving away “Snake kits.”  Go enter his contest.

Fans are camping out in Seattle:

Is anybody else doing this?

Fan videos from around the web:

Foxes on a Kayak

Snakes on a Plane - Band on the Run

All previous Fan Videos.

A few weeks ago AICN posted a review, now Dread Central has one.  Is it real?  I don’t know, but it’s positive.  Here’s a small sample:

Snakes on a Plane delivers terror we haven’t seen in most modern horror films today. It’s not just the different ways a snake can creep up on you and deliver a bite, though that was pretty damn cool. It’s not just the FX guys going to town on some bubbling, twitching poison victims, though that did make me cringe more than once. It’s the “What If” factor thrown in. What happens to the guy in front when a bunch of people push down an aisle only made for single filing? What happens when a plane pitches and everything in the cabin comes loose? CARNAGE!! In reality, it wouldn’t just be the snakes you’d have to worry about.

Sure, Snakes on a Plane is about as subtle as opening the door to your house with a 50-lb. sledgehammer, but it never pretended to be. You have to respect that sort of honesty. This could have been the mysterious Pacific Air Flight 121. There is no mistaking a film called Snakes on a Plane. This is the swift kick in the ass this summer movie season has sorely needed.

I wonder how they got to see the movie early?

A few icons I’ve had sitting in my inbox for a long time:

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It was exactly one year ago today that Josh Friedman posted on his blog his experiences with almost working on Snakes on a Plane. We all have him to thank for this experience. I hope he was invited to the premiere.

Also, does it seem odd that it was exactly one year old on the day of the premiere? Was this really a marketing push from New Line the whole time? I really don’t think it was, but the coincidence is surprising.

CrazyMonk was kind enough to find an email that I wrote on January 9th, just three days before officially launching Snakes on a Blog.  Sitting here in Hollywood on the eve of the premiere, it seems pretty prescient:

On 1/9/06, Brian <@> wrote:

I’m thinking about making a blog about my journeys surrounding Snakes on a Plane.  My attempts to go to the Snakes on a Plane premiere is exactly the sort of thing the blogosphere needs.

Brian

The really embarassing part is that I used the word “blogosphere.”

A few days ago when discussing the fact that Elsa Pataky had appeared in Maxim, I mentioned that I had sent her ‘management team’ a set of questions and I hadn’t heard back from them. They’ve found the time to respond and here is our final pre-film interview. First, here’s a few pictures of Elsa Pataky on and off the set to give you an idea of who we’re talking to:

And now, the interview:

Snakes on a Blog: First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself. Who you are, where you grew up, what your acting background is… basic biographical stuff.

Elsa Pataky: I’m Elsa Pataky. I was born and raised in Madrid, Spain. I am a well-known actress in my country, and I have starred in over 10 Spanish films. I live currently live in Spain and L.A.

Read the rest of this entry »

Snakes on a Plane has been mentioned on the Daily Show before (1 and 2), but yesterday it was graced with the presence of Samuel L. Jackson:

Samuel L. Jackson on the Daily Show

I don’t think I’ve ever seen more swearing in a Daily Show interview. It’s pretty good.

NBC is coming in a few minutes to tape something for the Today Show. My mom must be very excited.

If this if your first visit to Snakes on a Blog, you can feel free to skip this lenghty written brain-storming session and skip to the more fun stuff below. If you’re a long time reader, I’d appreciate your advice on the following idea:

I’ve been asked a number of times what I would do with this site once the movie comes out. I generally gave some answer about leaving the site up as a digital museum and made a few quips about DVD releases and sequels. Over the last few days, however, I have begun to wonder if this site couldn’t be something more. I have an idea, and I’m interested in hearing your opinions. A lot of you have been with me on this for a long time, so I’d value your insights.

There were two things that made Snakes on a Plane (and specifically this website) a success. The first was its ‘viral’ nature. Everything having to do with SoaP was catchy, and people were interested in sharing it. Every reporter asks me if this is something that can be reproduced in the future by new movies, and I always tell them that it can’t be. Something is ‘viral’ when it’s organically entertaining. That cannot be manufactured, it can only be found. A few people have asked to hire me to create another “Snakes on a Plane” wave of attention for their project, and I’ve given them the same basic answer: what they want to recreate cannot be recreated.

But there’s a second aspect to this story that is relevant to what made Snakes on a Blog a success. That aspect is the deluge and cataloguing of fan-generated content. When people become interested in a film, they turn to creativity to show their attachment and often create pieces of art. For Snakes on a Plane I’ve been calling it fan graphics, fan songs, fan clothing, fan comics and fan videos… but these things are not Snakes on a Plane specific. Other movies have had fans dedicated to creating and sharing content based on the film.

This content creation has traditionally happened in a number of ways spread thinly across the net. What if Snakes on a Blog took on the role of tracking this new phenomenon and cataloguing EVERYTHING that was produced by fans of film and television? As far as I can tell, this is something that nobody is currently doing. There are a lot of websites dedicated to film, but nobody is dedicated to tracking and maintaining collections of fan made content.

This concept is something that’s new for Hollywood. Even New Line, I’ve heard, was initially conflicted over how to approach the creation of quasi-original content by fans. Studios in the past have threatened Harry Potter fans, Star Wars fans and Transformers fans with lawsuits over fan-generated content. But this is, perhaps, the wave of the future and it’s something they’re going to have to learn how to deal with. It would be interesting to try to grab onto this concept as it’s cresting.

Does this seem like something you would be interested in? Would you enjoy a centralized clearing house for every Brokeback Mountain parody? Every riff on Kevin Smith? Every Harry Pothead cartoon? Everything generated by fans across the media realm, organized by film/tv show and easy to access?

Now this would be a step forward for me. If I were going to do this, it would have to make at least enough money to pay for itself. There would be some ads… this would be a real project. Who’s got ideas, critiques, advice? Hate mail?

Another blog thinks they’ve come up with the first Snakes on a Blog hockery jersey:

What they don’t realize is that we already have an entire Snakes on a Hockey Team. I haven’t seen a picture of their uniforms, but I can only imagine they’re Snakes on a Plane related.

New Line has been pushing Snakes on a Plane everywhere lately:

• Snakes on a Dell
• Snakes on a Cell Phone
• Snakes on a Treo

I guess we all have to hope that the Dell doesn’t burst into flames while the snake is still all wrapped around it… poor guy.

Also, FYI, Treo was kind enough to provide me with a Treo 650 so I could blog live from the premiere on Thursday night… be on the lookout for blurry pictures of all the festivities.