B Movie News reports that Fred Olen Ray is directing Recoil which will feature snakes on a submarine. It’s not a sequel, just another movie riffing on the same underlying concept, but maybe it can help show the value of the genre:

One of my first thoughts after watching it was “I wonder what that would have been like if Fred Olen Ray had directed it”. Well I guess I’m going find out. But instead of a plane it will be on a submarine and instead of Samuel L Jackson it will have Luke Perry. Shooting started this morning. It will feature Luke Perry, Cynthia Gibb, Bill Stevens, Sam Scarpa and Louis Mandylor.

I’m still rooting for Bears on a Submarine or maybe Wolves on a Submarine, but I’ll take what I can get.

Birds in a house.  These things just write themselves.

A car crash in the East St. Louis led yesterday to a reptile roundup. Police in Fairview Heights, Ill., said a car clipped one house then crashed into the basement of a neighboring home occupied by a snake breeder.

The accident broke open several of the home’s glass cages, freeing their slithery contents.

Police said none of the 10 escaped snakes was venomous, and it appears they’ve all been rounded up.

The car’s driver was treated for minor cuts and scrapes…

And, presumably, terror.

Thanks Lorelei.

Sad news from the entertainment world today — New Line Cinema, producer of Snakes on a Plane, is no more.

The company has been folded into Warner Brothers and Bob Shaye, brother of Snakes on a Plane star Lin Shaye, has stepped down as co-Chairman.

New Line will maintain its own identity and will continue to produce, market, and distribute movies. But New Line will now do so as part of Warner Bros. and will probably be a much smaller operation than in the past. Time Warner hopes that operating New Line as a unit of Warner Bros. will allow New Line to focus on the creative side of movie-making, while reducing costs and taking advantage of Warner Bros.’ distribution system.

This is a sad day both on a personal level, and on an industry level. Personally I have gotten to know a number of people at New Line who have been tremendously enthusiastic and supportive and who I’d like to see weather this storm. I have no idea what’s in any of their futures, but I wish them all well.

Throughout the Snakes on a Plane process, I always asserted that New Line Cinema, as a corporation, was handling themselves very well. I thanked them frequently for being more progressive on new media issues than Paramount, Universal or Fox. On one notable occasion I came to them when a fan felt that New Line had appropriated one of the fan’s merchandising ideas and, within hours, the issue was resolved with the fan being fully compensated. New Line understood the value of their fans and the importance of taking care of them. The movie industry as a whole could learn a lot from how New Line carried itself with respect to fan relations. I just hope that this merger with Warner Brothers doesn’t crush their fan-friendly, independent spirit.

I can only wonder what impact this might have on the future of Snakes on a Plane. Warner Brothers, any ideas?

Good luck New Line and New Line people, I wish you well.

Irregular Webcomic does its own take on Snakes on a Plane, in mostly lego form.

I previously discussed that Epic Movie was going to contain a Snakes on a Plane parody sequence (here and here).  The video of that sequence has finally made it online — watch it.

From Final Curtain by R.T. Jordan, page 2:

“All I know is the new Sondheim musical is apparently so depressing it’s actually scaring away the Broadway tourist trade. They need a fun and familiar placeholder at the Palace Theatre until Snakes on a Plane: The Musical opens in February. The producers are looking at Mame.”

Am I the only one who thinks this isn’t a terrible idea?

Thanks Seth.

Angry Alien does Snakes on a Plane in 30 Seconds (with bunnies, of course).  I saw this first On Demand through Comcast (ironically), but it was apparently done originally for Starz.

This is probably the norm on Vietnam Airlines:

Vietnam has seized more than a ton of ratsnakes found aboard a Vietnam Airlines flight from Bangkok, the second time in about a month such snakes were found in air cargo to Vietnam, state media said on Friday.

Guess what?

Who’s coming with me?

I saw Samuel L. Jackson at an airport in Hawaii (he was there for a golf tournament) and didn’t recognize him.  I’m totally ashamed of myself.

Sometimes whining can pay off.

When I saw that the concept behind ROFLCon was “to assemble every famous internet meme or celebrity to come to Harvard in the spring of 2008 to attend a conference,” I thought I had a decent chance of being invited. Sure, if this were a year and a half ago, I would have had a much better chance, but I figured a few people might remember.

But alas, perusing the list of people they’re looking for, I apparently didn’t make cut. Tim Hwang, I’m saddened by this. Even the One Red Paperclip guy got invited! We were doing our things at the same time. *Shakes head in disgust.*

I need to fire my agent.

Cross posted at RumorsDaily.

New Line apparently doesn’t forget its friends.

Today I received a package with the unusual warning “Do not use knife to open.” It was securely taped shut, so getting the box open without a knife was something of a challenge, but a challenge with a nice payoff. Inside was this letter from New Line Co-CEOs and Co-Chairmen Bob Shaye (brother of Snakes on a Plane star Lin Shaye) and Michael Lynne:

click to big-ify

Along with the letter was a fairly snazzy looking DVD booklet that held the following movies: Pink Flamingos, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Player, The Mask, Seven, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Boogie Nights, Wag the Dog, The Wedding Singer, Rush Hour, Blow, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Elf, The Notebook, and Wedding Crashers, as well as a documentary about the history of New Line.

click to big-ify

Sadly, Snakes on a Plane appears not have made the cut, but I’m sure they’ll be in the 50th Anniversary edition. I’m going to start making phone calls.

Apparently you can buy this collection directly from New Line, but your purchase won’t make you feel as appreciated as my surprise gift in the mail. Thanks New Line, you do much better than most other studios at recognizing and cultivating relationships with fans online, rather than threatening and suing them. Good job!

Those pesky snakes go in for all sorts of public transportation, don’t they?

Hey New Line, do you still read this blog?

I received an email today from somebody who wants to pitch you an idea.

Just thought you’d like to check out my article. This is something I hope to pitch to New Line, once I find a way to do so. (I.E., Once I can be assured they’ll take it seriously.)

http://dozerfleetwiki.wikispaces.com/SoaPAnimated

In short, this documents the exploits of Team Mongoose 20 years after Flight 121, as they battle snakes, scorpions, alligators, and more all over the globe to take down the vengeful remains of Eddie Kim’s family. Since I’m a fairly good graphics compiler and writer but a lousy animator, I’m hoping New Line will buy this pitch and send it to an animation studio one day. I don’t know how much significance it will have to you, but I thought I’d show it anyway.

If you visit his webpage you’ll see that he has the entire first season loosely scripted.

I’d watch it.

I had this posted on my other site for a week before I realized that it mentions Snakes on a Plane and hence fits here. So, here we go, Internet People.

It seems like it happens every few days now, but we’ve had more real snakes on real planes:

A man was stopped at Cairo’s airport just moments before he boarded a Saudi Arabia-bound plane with carry-on bags filled with live snakes, as well as a few baby crocodiles and chameleons.

ESPN’s Page 2’s Bill Simmons is, unsurprisingly, a big fan of Snakes on a Plane:

Note: Speaking [of] predictions, if “Snakes” doesn’t have one of the most magical runs in cable history, I’ll be shocked. So much to love, including Sam Jackson showing off a Barry Bonds-sized noggin, Juliana Marguiles with an “I never should have left ‘ER’ ” look on her face, Tim Riggins from “Friday Night Lights” joining the Mile High Club, Kenan Thompson successfully landing the plane because of his experience landing planes in video games and, yes, snakes eating people on a plane. I’ve watched this movie three times in 10 days, and I might go for No. 4 tonight.

PostSecret, which incidentally is a great webpage, includes a Snakes on a Plane secret today: