Snakes on a Plane

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Snakes on a Plane
The image on the movie poster is a reference to the caduceus, the staff belonging to the Greek god Asclepius.
Directed by	David R. Ellis
Produced by	Craig Berenson Stokely Chaffin Toby Emmerich Penny Finkelman Cox Don Granger Justis Greene Jeff Katz Gary Levinsohn Sandra Rabins George Waud David J. Taylor
Written by	John Heffernan (script/story) Sebastian Gutierrez (script) David Dalessandro (story)
Starring	Samuel L. Jackson Julianna Margulies Nathan Phillips Bobby Cannavale Rachel Blanchard Terry Chen Kenan Thompson Todd Louiso
Music by	Trevor Rabin
Cinematography	Adam Greenberg
Editing by	Howard Smith
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	August 18, 2006 (U.S.) August 18, 2006 (UK) August 24, 2006 (Aus)
Running time	105 min.
Country	U.S.A
Language	English
Budget	$33,000,000
Gross revenue	$59,377,419
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Snakes on a Plane is a cult high concept,^[1] horror-thriller feature film^[2] starring Samuel L. Jackson. It was released by New Line Cinema on August 18, 2006 in North America. The film, directed by David R. Ellis (Final Destination 2, Cellular), was written by David Dalessandro, John Heffernan, and Sheldon Turner.

The movie gained a considerable amount of attention before its release, forming large fan bases online and becoming an Internet phenomenon, due to the film's title and premise. In response to the Internet fan base, New Line Cinema incorporated feedback from online users into its production, and added five days of reshooting. Before and after the film was released, it was parodied and alluded to on television shows and films, fan-made videos, video games, a noise album dubbed Soundtrack for the Motion Picture Snakes on a Plane, and various forms of literature. Despite the immense Internet buzz, the film's gross revenue did not live up to expectation.^[1]^[3]

The film is rated R by the MPAA, 15 by the BBFC, M by the OFLC and 14A by the CHVRS, due to explicit language, a scene depicting drug use and sex, and sequences of terror and violence.^[4]

[edit] Plot

After witnessing the brutal murder of a prosecutor by gangster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson) and his band of thugs, Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) is escorted by FBI agents Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) and John Sanders (Mark Houghton) to testify in a highly publicized case in Los Angeles. Despite increased security for the flight, Kim arranges for time-release crates full of venomous snakes to be placed in the cargo hold of South Pacific Air Flight 121, a Boeing 747-400 on which Jones will be flying from Honolulu to LAX in Los Angeles. The leis given to the passengers by airport staff upon their departure had been secretly sprayed with pheromones to make the snakes more aggressive in an attempt to bring down the plane before it reaches its destination.

The other passengers include rapper Three Gs (Flex Alexander) who suffers from a Howard Hughes-like fear of disease, with his two bodyguards Troy and Big Leroy (Kenan Thompson and Keith Dallas); a rich girl Mercedes (Rachel Blanchard) with her dog, Mary Kate; a Latin woman (Elsa Pataky) named Maria, Isabella, traveling with her baby; two young boys, Curtis and Tommy Brown, who are traveling by themselves for the first time; Chen Leong (Terry Chen), a kickboxer; Tyler (Tygh Runyan) who has a phobia of flying and is returning from his honeymoon with wife Ashley (Emily Holmes); and Paul (Gerard Plunkett), a British businessman who is unhappy with being moved from first-class to coach. The flight crew includes Claire Miller (Julianna Margulies) who is leaving after the flight to become a lawyer (However the lawyer sub-plot was cut reducing the length of two scenes during the movie); Grace (Lin Shaye), a senior attendant; Ken (Bruce James), a flamboyant crew member who displays effeminate behavior; and Tiffany (Sunny Mabrey), a young, attractive attendant who flirts with Sean.

The crate opens midway through the flight, and the snakes make their way throughout the cabin through an access hatch. A girl named Kelly (Samantha McLeod) and her boyfriend Kyle (Taylor Kitsch) take off their shirts and are having sex in the bathroom when they are unexpectedly attacked by snakes and killed. Kelly is bitten on the right breast and Kyle is bitten on the neck. Afterwards, 3G's tries to escape the snakes by opening the toilet where they were having sex and their bodies fall out onto him with numerous bites all over their bodies. Soon after, a man is killed while urinating in an aircraft toilet when a snake comes out of the toilet bowl and bites his penis.

The plane's captain, Sam McKeon (Tom Butler), investigates a short which, unbeknownst to him, was caused by a snake. After fixing the problem, he is bitten and killed by the viper that caused the short. Since nobody had seen what killed him, co-pilot Rick (David Koechner) comes to the conclusion that the captain had suffered a heart attack. Since the plane is halfway to its destination, Rick decides not to turn around.

Eventually, some snakes make their way into the cockpit of the plane and attack Rick. While fending them off, Rick accidentally releases the oxygen masks throughout the plane, and many snakes drop into the cabin with them. Numerous passengers, including Sanders, are killed in the attack. The surviving passengers, who had made their way to the front of the plane where there were no snakes, put up a blockade of luggage. However, due to turbulence, Mercedes and Maria had been knocked unconscious and were stranded in the back of the plane, Mercedes with Mary Kate and Maria with Isabella. Mercedes is saved at the last second by Chen Leong from a snake attack. Chen makes his way to the front of the plane with Mercedes and Mary Kate. Soon after, Grace hears Isabella's cries. She tears down the luggage blockade to find her. She comes across Maria, who has just woken up, and does not know where Isabella is. Grace soon finds the baby, but is bitten by a rattlesnake saving her (Grace later dies due to the snake bite). The three make their way back to the front of the plane and the luggage barrier is rebuilt.

Agent Flynn contacts FBI Special Agent Hank Harris (Bobby Cannavale) on the ground, who arranges for emergency crews to be waiting at Los Angeles International Airport. Agent Harris then calls ophiologist Dr. Steven Price (Todd Louiso), who asks Flynn to gather the dead snakes so Flynn can describe them to Price and Price can identify the snakes and therefore the antivenom needed. This proves fruitless as the passengers don't know anything about snakes. Mercedes, however, comes up with the idea of sending Dr. Price photos of the dead snakes using her smartphone. Dr. Price notices that the snakes had come from all over the world. He then remembers Kraitler, a snake dealer who lives in Los Angeles who could have been the person that arranged the snakes.

Rick is attacked by the viper that had killed the captain, and they both fall through the hatch that leads below the flight deck. The plane starts to dip downwards and a food trolley crashes through the luggage blockade, allowing the snakes to break through. Tyler and Ashley, who were knocked down by the trolley, are killed by snakes. Many passengers decide to flee to First Class, where there are no snakes, while several others are killed in the chaos. As passengers make their way up the stairs, a Burmese python falls into the cabin from the lighting panel it had been making its way through and turns toward Paul and Mercedes. Paul tries to distract the python by flinging Mercedes' dog, Mary Kate, into the python's jaws. The tactic only provides a momentary distraction, as Paul is also eaten by the snake. As all the surviving passengers finally reach the first class cabin, the snakes continues to pursue them and the passengers try to build up another wall with the passengers' bags. However, one of the flight attendants Tiffany, soon comes up with a better idea- block the stairs entrance to the first class cabin with an inflatable liferaft.

Flynn goes into the cargo hold of the plane in order to restore the air conditioning/ventilation system, without which the plane would overheat and plummet into the ocean. While searching for the switch, he angrily discovers a mechanical panel that had been intentionally left open to allow the snakes to reach the cabin. Flynn fixes the ventilation system successfully.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Agent Harris and Dr. Price go to Kraitler's snake farm. After a shootout, Harris extracts a confession from Kraitler, who confirms that he was the person who illegally obtained the snakes for Kim's use. He is then taken into custody, with his stock of antivenin being commandeered for the surviving snakebite victims aboard the plane. It is revealed that Eddie Kim will likely receive capital punishment.

It is finally daytime on Flight 121. Flynn returns to First Class and is contacted by Harris, who lets Flynn know that he has the antivenom and it will be ready for passengers when they reach the airport. However, Flynn soon discovers that the cockpit is filled with snakes, and that Rick is dead. Claire asks the passengers if any of them know how to fly a plane, but Flynn tells her that he can land it with some guidance from the control tower. However, Three G's tells them that he knows someone with flight experience; his bodyguard Troy. Troy says that he has over 2,000 hours of flight time and agrees to land the plane. After Claire reminds everybody that the snakes have to be cleared out of the cockpit, Flynn delivers the movie's fan-anticipated catchphrase: "Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!" He tells everybody to "strap in", because he is "about to open some fucking windows". After everybody gets prepared, Flynn uses his pistol to shoot out two windows, causing the plane to depressurize. Troy pulls the cockpit door open with a rope and the snakes are blown out, along with the majority of the snakes on the lower floor of the plane, including a half-swallowed Paul and the Burmese python consuming him.

Flynn and Troy take the controls of the plane. Troy reveals that his flight experience was actually from a flight simulator for the PlayStation 2. With nobody else on the plane having any sort of flight experience, Flynn talks the control tower into letting Troy land the plane. After a nearly-unsuccessful emergency landing, Flight 121 is safely back on the ground. The surviving passengers finally set foot on land, and antivenom is given to those who need it. However, just as Flynn and Sean are about to get off the plane, a snake jumps out and bites Sean in the chest. Flynn draws his gun and shoots the snake, causing Sean to tumble down the slide. Paramedics rush to Sean, and Flynn rips open Sean's shirt to reveal a bulletproof vest.

As the passengers and crew depart, Flynn offers to take Claire to dinner for a date, which she accepts. Meanwhile, Tiffany kisses Sean and gives him her phone number. Flynn and Sean meet up again, and Sean invites Flynn surfing. The closing shots feature Sean surfing with Flynn, presumably in Bali, a place to which Sean had been planning a surfing trip before the incident on Flight 121. As a last scare, the same snake that makes the first two kills (the two teenagers having sex) and almost kills Sean, jumps out at the screen.

[edit] History

The story is credited to David Dalessandro, a University of Pittsburgh administrator and first-time Hollywood writer, who developed the concept in 1992 after reading a nature magazine. Dalessandro said: "I read about the Indonesian brown tree snake climbing onto planes in cargo during World War II." He originally wrote the screenplay about the brown tree snake loose on a plane, titling the film Venom. He soon revised it, expanding upon the premise to include a plague of assorted poisonous snakes, then—crediting the film Alien—revised it once again to include "lots of them loose in the fuselage of a plane."^[5]

Dalessandro's third draft of Venom was turned down by more than 30 Hollywood studios in 1995. However, in 1999, a producer for MTV/Paramount showed interest in the script, followed up by New Line Studios, which took over the rights for production.

Originally, the film was going to be directed by Hong Kong action director Ronny Yu. Jackson, who had previously worked with Yu on The 51st State, learned about the announced project in the Hollywood trade newspapers and, after talking to Yu, agreed to sign on without reading the script based on the director, storyline and allegedly the title.^[6]

Surprisingly, the film's title and premise generated a lot of pre-release interest on the Internet. One journalist even wrote that Snakes on a Plane is "perhaps the most internet-hyped film of all time".^[7] Much of the initial publicity came from a blog entry made by screenwriter Josh Friedman, who had been offered a chance to work on the script.^[8] The casting of Jackson further increased anticipation. At one point, the film's working title was altered to Pacific Air Flight 121. In August 2005, Jackson told an interviewer, "We're totally changing that back. That's the only reason I took the job: I read the title."^[9]^[10] On March 2, 2006, the studio reverted the title to Snakes on a Plane. New Line hired two additional writers to smooth out the screenplay.^[5]

Taking advantage of the Internet buzz for what had been a minor movie in their 2006 line-up, New Line Cinema ordered five days of additional shooting in early March 2006^[11] (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 growing fan expectations. The most notable addition was a revision of a catchphrase from the film that was parodied on the Internet by fans of the film, capitalizing on Jackson's typical movie persona: "Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!". Subsequently, the public responded favorably to this creative change and marketing strategy, leading some members of the press to speculate that "the movie has grown from something of a joke into a phenomenon".^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]

On June 3, 2006 while presenting the award for best movie at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, Jackson declared that Snakes on a Plane would win the award the following year, jokingly stating:

“

No movie shall triumph over Snakes on a Plane. Unless I happen to feel like making a movie called More Motherfucking Snakes on More Motherfucking Planes.

”

During a July 21, 2006 panel discussion at the Comic-Con Convention in San Diego, California, a preview clip from the film was shown to a crowd of more than 6,500 people. The panel included actors Samuel L. Jackson and Kenan Thompson, director David R. Ellis, and snake-handler Jules Sylvester.^[16]

In a move meant to exploit the attention from the film, a B-movie horror movie with a supernatural twist, Snakes on a Train, was released straight to DVD on August 15, 2006, only three days before Snakes on a Plane's theatrical release.

[edit] Box office

Robert K. Shaye, the founder of New Line Cinema, expressed that he was "disappointed" that Snakes on a Plane was a "dud" despite "higher expectations".^[17]

The press declared that Snakes on a Plane was a "box office disappointment",^[1]^[3] with the The New York Times reporting that after all the "hype Online, Snakes on a Plane is letdown at box office"^[18] and Entertainment Weekly reporting that the film was an "internet-only phenomenon."^[3] The film debuted on August 18, 2006 with some late-night screenings on August 17, 2006. Due to the amount of Internet hype surrounding the film, industry analysts estimated the movie's opening box office to be between US$20 million and US$30 million.^[19] While Snakes on a Plane did narrowly beat Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby for #1 during its opening weekend, it failed to meet these estimates and grossed only US$15.25 million in its opening days, a disappointment for New Line Cinema.^[1] In its second weekend, the movie fell to 6th place with US$6.4 million, a 57.6% loss from its opening weekend revenue.^[20]^[21]^[22] By the end of its theatrical run, the movie generated approximately $62,022,014 worldwide.^[23]

[edit] Critical reaction

In mid-July 2006, New Line Cinema revealed that it would not be showing any advance screenings for critics. After the film opened, Snakes on a Plane received a 69% favorable rating among the consensus of critics tracked by Rotten Tomatoes.^[24]

Reviewers reported audiences cheering, applauding and engaging in "call and response", noting that audience participation was an important part of the film's appeal.^[25]^[26]^[27]

[edit] Potential errors in plot

The cargo hold in a 747-400 is heated to around 20 centigrade. This is below the temperature that many snakes "operate" in, especially the tropical species depicted, as a result the snakes would have not have been as highly active as shown. Also, a simple measure to counteract the snakes in the cabin would have been to disable or turn off the cabin heating system (or turn the air-con to its minimum temperature setting), and allow the cabin temperature to fall (the outside temperature at altitude is below freezing) causing the snakes to become slow moving, or even freezing them to death. The passengers could have donned clothing from hand luggage, blankets etc to keep warm. This is the method used in the end of the film when the cabin is de-pressurised, but could have been adopted from the start. Otherwise, it's a good horror/action film.

[edit] Media coverage

[edit] Print

Black Flame published the novelization of the film, written by Christa Faust.^[28] It is 405 pages long and contains significant amounts of backstory for characters who appear in the film only briefly or are not explored in depth, such as Ms. Bova's life story and Troy's anecdotes of Three G's as a child, and introduces other characters who were not featured in the movie at all, including a skilled Triad assassin called Lulu Fang.

On June 13, 2006, comic book writer Chuck Dixon announced on his web site that he would be writing the comic book adaptation of Snakes on a Plane. DC Comics has since released a two-issue miniseries on August 16, 2006 and September 27, 2006 under their Wildstorm imprint.

In January 2006, Wired featured the film as "The best worst film of 2006", based solely on the title and concept of the movie.^[29]

An illustrated book from Thunder's Mouth Press, Snakes on a Plane: The Guide to the Internet Ssssssensation by David Waldon, details the Internet phenomenon and was published July 28, 2006.^[30] Waldon details various viral videos relating to the Snakes craze, and interviewed their producers to find out what about the movie captured their attention.

Sterling Publishing released the tie-in sudoku book Snakes on a Sudoku by Francis Heaney and Conceptis Puzzles on August 1, 2006. According to the book description, the puzzles are standard sudoku puzzles, but with the 3x3 blocks of numbers replaced with "deadly snakes" (actually, snake-shaped groups of squares).^[31]

Snakes on a Plane: The Complete Quote Book was released by HarperCollins on August 8, 2006.^[32]

[edit] Music and audio

On March 16, 2006, New Line Cinema publicly announced a contest on TagWorld^[33] and a website promoting the film.^[34] The contest allowed artists on TagWorld to have their music featured in the movie. A flood of SoaP-themed songs by artists such as Captain Ahab (who ultimately won the contest), Louden Swain, the Former Fat Boys, Nispy and others are now available because of the TagWorld contest. In addition, a music video for the film, released July 10, 2006 on MTV2's Unleashed, has also generated publicity for the movie. The video is for the first song on the soundtrack CD, Cobra Starship's "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)". Additionally, the video appears during the beginning of the credits at the end of the movie.

In October 2005, Nathanial Perry and Chris Rohan recorded an audio trailer spoof, which helped fuel the internet buzz. Perry and Rohan recorded the "motherfucking snakes" line in the audio trailer which was added to the film during the week of re-shoots.^[35] In July 2006, New Line Cinema signed a worldwide licensing agreement with the Cutting Corporation to produce an audiobook of the film.^[36]

The soundtrack was released on August 15, 2006 and is currently available for streaming in its entirety on MTV's The Leak.^[37]

Some radio stations have noted the hype associated with the movie in their broadcasts, creating fake promos for supposed sequels such as Dinosaurs in a Cab, Whitesnakes on a Plane, and Trouser Snakes on a Plane. Many have also been using the voice message of Samuel L. Jackson, which is found on the film's official site, for promoting their stations.

[edit] Television and video

Beginning in May 2006, episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and its sister show The Colbert Report contained references to Snakes on a Plane's title, the catch phrase, and general premise. Colbert accompanies the references with an imitation of Samuel L. Jackson saying "I have had it with these muthafuckin' snakes on this muthafuckin' plane!" One notable example on The Daily Show occurred just after the alleged terror plot in August 2006, which resulted in a large number of items being banned from airplanes in the United Kingdom and United States. This story was accompanied by the satirical tagline "Snakes not allowed on a plane." On August 15, 2006, Samuel L. Jackson guest featured on The Daily Show, opening with the movie's catch phrase. Stewart claims that Jackson is his favorite actor. On August 21, 2006, during a segment on the show called "Snakes on a Plane: Could it Muthafuckin Happen Here", correspondent Samantha Bee asked a snake expert if there had been any reported snake attacks on planes. He denied it, to which Bee replied, "I've had it with these motherfuckin' experts denying that there's motherfuckin' snakes on motherfuckin' planes!" Keith Olbermann has featured stories about the movie and Internet buzz several times on his MSNBC news program Countdown. In addition, G4's Attack of the Show! features a semi-regular segment entitled "Snakes on a Plane: An Attack of the Show Investigation", and even had a week dedicated to the movie which included interviews, including a conversation with Sunny Mabrey in a re-creation of an airplane bathroom; and a day where hundreds of snakes were on set, leading up to an event in which Olivia Munn had all of the snakes poured onto her. Additionally, MTV Canada's MTV Live has made sketches of an eager man waiting in line for months to see Snakes on a Plane first.

In June 2006, New Line Cinema commissioned famed UK audio-visual film remixers and chop-up artists Addictive TV to cut and sample Snakes on a Plane to create trailers for the US television networks.

In September 2006, Rove Live hosts Rove McManus and Peter Helliar spent several minutes on the show raving about how much they had been looking forward to the movie and how much they liked it, repeatedly re-iterating what they thought was the film's best selling point: "It's snakes, on a plane." The ranting was followed by a small skit of their proposed sequel, entitled 'Spiders on a Glider' and including Rove saying "I want these motherfuckin' spiders off this motherfuckin' hanglider!"

[edit] Merchandising

Several independent T-shirt manufacturers made T-shirts with graphics illustrating various humorous representations of the movie. One, created by Jeffrey Rowland, depicts a frontal exterior view of a plane cockpit, with the pilot and co-pilot depicted as snakes themselves. Another uses vintage road signs to formulate "Snakes + Plane = Snakes on a Plane". A third showed a cartoon representation of Samuel Jackson's Mace Windu character from the Star Wars film series cutting down snakes with a lightsaber. It was pulled, presumably for copyright reasons.

An official Snakes on a Plane T-shirt was available at Hot Topic retail stores. Samuel L. Jackson was dressed in the snakes in cockpit fanshirt in the official music video Snakes on a Plane. The shirt he is wearing is from Jeffrey Rowland's TopatoCo; it is unknown if he chose the shirt himself, or if someone working on wardrobe selected it. Jackson wore another fan-made shirt (from Damnation) during the MTV Movie Awards.^[38]

New Line Cinema partnered with the internet company CafePress.com to permit fans of Snakes on a Plane to become official licensees of Snakes on a Plane merchandise. This opened the door for millions to design and sell not only t-shirts, but other gift items such as mugs. Designers are restricted from using any copyrighted images or content created by New Line Cinema (e.g. images from the film), or images/depictions of the individual actors in the film. Fans have already responded by creating hundreds of designs including those using the full title of the film, something allowed by the New Line Cinema/CafePress partnership.

[edit] Product placement

The film includes several product placements including Kawasaki and Red Bull (which did not pay for the placement)^[39]^{[unreliable source?]} in the opening scenes, GMC Trucks driven by Eddie Kim, onscreen use of a Sony PSP and Nintendo DS, a mention of an Xbox and a PlayStation 2 (which is credited by Flynn as indirectly saving the plane: "All praises to the PlayStation!"), a Palm Treo phone (used by the character Mercedes to advance the plot, photographing the snakes and e-mailing the photos to rescue workers on the ground to have the right antivenom ready), Purell hand sanitizer, San Pellegrino mineral water, and Pepsi products on the plane. Various Dell product placements are also in the film, such as Dell LCD TVs and Flat Panel Monitors onboard. There was also an Apple iBook in use by one of the passengers on the plane, when the passenger sits up to move, the Apple logo is seen clearly on the entire screen.

[edit] Internet

Snakes on a Plane generated considerable buzz on the internet after Josh Friedman's blog entry^[8] and mentions on several Internet portals. The title inspired bloggers to create songs, apparel, poster art, pages of fan fiction, parody films, mock movie trailers and even short film parody competitions.^[40]

Snakes on a Plane was highly promoted on the Pod-cast Filmspotting, formerly known as Cinecast.

Evo Terra, co-host of the popular podcast Michael and Evo's Wingin' It, began promoting the film in early 2006 and frequently using the phrase "snakes on a motherfuckin' plane!" on the show. Listeners sent in Snakes on a Plane-themed voicemails and links, and the show continually featured Snakes on a Plane in various segments (for example, listeners were encouraged to call in and leave voicemails while standing in line for the film or while in the cinema watching it).

A viral video entitled "Snakes on a Plane Early Auditions" features comedian Dave Coyne doing impressions of actors Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson, Joe Pesci, and Robert De Niro, and Muppet Beaker, doing casting auditions for the movie.^[41] The film has been featured on Digg, iFilm, and YouTube, and was included as enhanced content on the film's soundtrack. Coyne's voice acting talent can be heard in the audiobook dramatization of Snakes on a Plane.

In March 2006, the Zebro comedy group produced the first ever Snakes on a Plane music video contest. Contestants were told to write and record original songs inspired by the movie and then make them into music videos. The top three videos were produced by Zebro itself, including the rap song "Snakes on an MP3" which has been featured on Extra, MTV, CNN, and MSNBC after being put on YouTube. Another song entitled "100%: A Tribute to SoaP" is a claymation video dedicated to the film.

Many of the early fan-made trailers and later other viral videos and commercials circulated via YouTube, and captured media attention there with such titles as: "Snakes Who Missed The Plane", "All Your Snakes Are Belong To Us" (a spoof of the All your base are belong to us phenomenon), and "Steaks on a Train". Several websites also held contests about the film in fan-submitted short films and posters. On July 6, 2006, the official Snakes on a Plane website started a promotional sweepstakes called the "The #1 Fan King Cobra Sweepstakes". The contest makes innovative use of the publicity-generating potential of the Internet, requiring contestants to post links on forums, blogs, and websites and collecting votes from the users of those sites. The winner was Max Goldberg, owner of YTMND, who opted to split the prize with the second place winner.

In August 2006, Varitalk launched an advertising campaign in which fans can send a semi-personalized message in Jackson's voice to telephone numbers of their choosing.^[42]

[edit] Trailers

The official teaser trailer premiered before X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and the first official trailer appeared online on June 26, 2006.^[43] Another trailer circulated in July 2006, showing several of the snake attacks and a missing pilot and co-pilot.^[44] In addition, New Line Cinema commissioned famed UK audio-visual film remixers and chop-up artists Addictive TV to cut and sample the film to create trailers for the US television networks. Rotten Tomatoes has video clips of the official trailers, as well as fan-made trailers.^[45]

[edit] DVD release

New Line Cinema released the "Snakes on a Plane" DVD on January 2, 2007.

Features:^[46]

Collectible Packaging
Commentary from star Samuel L. Jackson and director David R. Ellis
Deleted scenes with optional commentary from director David R. Ellis
Pure Venom behind-the-scenes documentary
Snakes on a Blog featurette documenting the film’s fan-based buzz
Meet the Reptiles featurette about the snakes featured in the film
Snakes on a Plane VFX featurette
"Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" – Cobra Starship with The Academy Is…, Gym Class Heroes, and The Sounds music video
Teaser trailer
Two theatrical trailers
Five TV spots

Circuit City offers a deal that includes an exclusive bonus disk. The disk includes a featurette on how to survive a snakebite, as well as behind the scenes info.

Special features produced by Automat Pictures

The R2 version of the DVD was released on December 26, 2006.^[47]

The DVD was released in Australia on December 28, 2006.^[48]^[49]

The film as featured on the DVD release of Snakes on a Plane includes a small change from the theatrical version. In the sequence where Ken kills a snake in a microwave, a barely-noticeable gag was inserted. For a very brief amount of time, the viewer can see that Ken presses a "snake" button on the microwave's controls.^[50]

[edit] Parodies and references in popular culture

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Due to its mass internet and media interest, Snakes on a Plane has been referenced to in a variety of aspects of popular culture.

When the film was released in theaters, rumors circulated that two live diamondback rattlesnakes had been released at a showing of the film on August 22, 2006 in Phoenix, Arizona. It was later revealed that one snake had made its way into the lobby of the theater on its own, and another had been found in the parking lot in a separate incident. The snakes were later released back into the desert.^[51]

[edit] Music

The title for The Devil Wears Prada song "Goats on a Boat" is a reference to the film.

[edit] Literature

In the first issue of Marvel Comics' miniseries dedicated to Stan Lee's 65th anniversary at Marvel, Bees on a Zeppelin merchandise can be seen in various panels of Joss Whedon's story "Some Steves".
The August 16, 2006 installment of the anthology webcomic The Joy of Tech depicts a parody of the film named "Sapiens on a Planet"; specifically, it shows a world where the roles of people and snakes are reversed.^[52]
In Issue 11 of Nextwave, a series splash panel battle scenes depicts the members of Nextwave fighting various unusual and random enemies. One of these enemies is a series of snakes piloting various types of planes.
Uncle John's Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader, a book of trivia, contains an article called "Snakes on a..." made up of several anecdotes about snakes.
The December 2006 issue of Mad Magazine had a spoof saying "More High Concept Movie Titles From the Producers of Snakes on a Plane" and mentioning fake titles of movies like "Raccoons on a Moped" or "Cannibals in a Laundromat".

[edit] Film and television

The 2007 film Epic Movie contains a parody of Snakes on a Plane with an actor portraying Samuel L. Jackson who is focusing on the wordplay of the "Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!" quote. In the PG-13 cinema release, "motherfucking" is replaced by "goddamn", but the DVD is uncensored.
In the fourth episode of season 7 of Gilmore Girls, Christopher Hayden and Lorelai Gilmore see the film in a theater.
UK Channel 4's Internet show thisisaknife parodied Snakes on a Plane various times in their episode dated 25 May, including a trailer for "Snacks on a Train."
In the second season finale of the show Weeds, a student gives a speech at his middle school graduation ceremony in which he refers to the graduating class as "a plane, soaring majestically in the air", and that recent events have threatened the ceremony, and there are now "motherfucking snakes on the motherfucking plane!"
Pilobolus, an interpretive dance/performance troupe, formed a Snakes on a Plane caduceus logo, as well as acting out snakes attacking host Ellen DeGeneres, all while renditions of the score played at the 79th Academy Awards.
The Bungie website announced the movie "Flood on a Plane" as an April fools gag, referring to the Flood species in the Halo universe.^[53]
Season 3, Episode 12 of Bravo's Top Chef is entitled "Snacks on a Plane." The elimination challenge was to prepare a meal in the Continental Airlines kitchen at Newark Liberty International Airport, then reheat and serve it aboard a Boeing 777.
April 5 2008 YES Network announcer related a bases loaded situation with no one out as a "Snakes on a Plane" Situation (Yankees vs. Rays).

[edit] Video games

In the video game Trauma Center: Second Opinion, one of the missions is named "Caduceus on a Plane". In the Nintendo DS version, Under the Knife, the same mission was named "Miracle at 9,800 Feet".
Various online games refer to the film. Gaia Online's upcoming battle system features an enemy called "Snake+Plane". Adventure Quest has an enemy challenge called "Sneaks on a Plain". Kingdom of Loathing has an item named "A Bag of Airline Peanuts", which, when used, releases snakes and makes a Samuel L. Jackson reference if the player is in the area called "The Nearby Plains." There is also a line in the game that says, "reaches into a higher plane and pulls out a snake!"
The film has also been popular in several MMORPGs including Guild Wars Nightfall, where an escort quest is entitled "Drakes on a Plain" and a member of the party declares: "Enough is enough, I have had it with these Balthazar-blasted Drakes in this Balthazar-blasted plain!".
Also, in EverQuest II, a dark-skinned human named Marshal Samson Winnfield, located in the Loping Plains, charges you to investigate the recent snake attacks in the area. The quest is entitled "Snakes on the Plains."
In The Burning Crusade, the expansion pack to the popular World of Warcraft, there is airplane wreckage with snakes in it.
In the online game DragonFable, there is a sack lying on a tree stump outside of a shop, and when examined, it states "EEEP! Snakes on a bag! ... err... in a bag!"
In the online game Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, there is a quest where the character must kill snakes for an NPC titled "Snakes on the Plains".
Shortly after the film's release, the Anarchy Online in-game events department parodied it. Many players were taken to an attack on an alien ship led by a character somewhat resembling Samuel L. Jackson. The ship was soon overrun by large snakes, which prompted the raid leader to proclaim that he is "sick and tired of these damn snakes on this damn ship".
In the Nintendo DS game Contact there is a reference to "Snakes on a Boat".

[edit] Snakes

Over 450 snakes were used for filming to represent thirty different species of snakes.^[54] The different species include a 19-foot Burmese python named Kitty (which the crew named Kong for film purposes), a Scarlet Kingsnake (the non-venomous double for the coral snake), a milk snake to fill in for the Taipan (which attacks the couple having sex), corn snakes, rattlesnakes, and mangrove snakes.^[55] About two-thirds of the snakes seen throughout the film were either animatronic or computer generated.^[56] The snakes that were real were mostly the non-venomous ones that are never seen attacking anyone. The scenes where someone is clearly bitten were often done with the most animation. According to the DVD, "all" the snakes had production names, but only "Scarface" (an animated pit viper), "Peanut" (a cobra) and "Kong" are mentioned by name in the audio commentary.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Samuel L. Jackson	Neville Flynn
Nathan Phillips	Sean Jones
Lorenzo Varano	Chen Leong
Julianna Margulies	Claire Miller
Rachel Blanchard	Mercedes Harbont
Mark Houghton	John Sanders
Byron Lawson	Eddie Kim
Sunny Mabrey	Tiffany Englehart
Todd Louiso	Price
Flex Alexander	Three G's/Clarence Dewey
Kenan Thompson	Troy
Bruce James	Ken
David Koechner	Rick
Bobby Cannavale	Hank Harris
Elsa Pataky	Maria
Samantha McLeod	Kelly
Taylor Kitsch	Kyle "Crocodile" Cho
Kevin McNulty	LAX Air Traffic Controller

[edit] Ratings

Rating	Ratings Board	Country	Description
R	MPAA	United States	Rated R for language, a scene of sexuality and drug use, and intense sequences of terror and violence.
15	BBFC	United Kingdom	Contains strong language, sex and bloody violence.
B-15	Dirección General de Radio, Televisión y Cinematografía	Mexico	Rated B-15 for language, violence and nudity.
14^A	CHVRS	Canada	14A for violence, sexually suggestive scenes, nudity, coarse language
M	OFLC	Australia	M for moderate horror violence, moderate coarse language, sex scene and incidental drug use.
16	FSK	Germany	Released to age 16 or older.
M	OFLC	New Zealand	M for violence, offensive language and sex scenes.
15A	IFCO	Ireland	Strong violence and language, moderate sex/nudity, mild drug references.
16	Kijkwijzer (Netherlands)	Netherlands	16 for violence, fear and coarse language.^[57]
16LNSV	n Film South Africa (South Africa Film rating/censorship board)	Template:South Africa	Classified as General, but possibly with moral censorship applied before release^[58]
M18	Singapore Media Development Authority	Singapore	Uncut version passed M18 for violence and gore. An edited version was granted an NC-16 certificate.^[59]