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Sharknado: The 4th Awakens

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Sharknado: The 4th Awakens
Promotional poster
Written byThunder Levin
Directed byAnthony C. Ferrante
Starring
Music by
  • Christopher Cano
  • Chris Ridenhour
  • Don Frankel
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerDavid Michael Latt
CinematographyLaura Beth Love
EditorAna Florit
Running time90 minutes
Production companies
BudgetUS$ 3 million
Original release
NetworkSyfy
ReleaseJuly 31, 2016 (2016-07-31)
Related

Sharknado: The 4th Awakens is a 2016 American made-for-television science fiction action comedy disaster film and the fourth installment in the Sharknado film series, following Sharknado, Sharknado 2: The Second One, and Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!. The film was directed by Anthony C. Ferrante with Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, David Hasselhoff and Ryan Newman reprising their roles from the previous installments. New people joining the cast in the film include Tommy Davidson, Masiela Lusha, Imani Hakim, Cheryl Tiegs and Gary Busey. In the film, Fin Shepard and his allies, five years after the last sharknado, contend with a group of sharknado variants, such as a "cownado" and a "lightningnado".

The film premiered on Syfy in the United States on July 31, 2016.[1][2] Though the film title, poster, and intro are a parody of the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it is not a mockbuster.

The fifth film, Sharknado 5: Global Swarming, was released on August 6, 2017.

Plot

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Tech company Astro-X has used their revolutionary energy system to prevent the formation of sharknadoes, using cheap, clean reactors dubbed Astro-Pods. To celebrate the five year anniversary of the eradication of sharknadoes, Astro-X founder Aston Reynolds announces that he will be hosting the grand opening of a shark-themed hotel in Las Vegas.

Fin Shepard has moved to a farm in Kansas named "April's Acres," where he lives with his mother Raye and his young son Gil. Fin travels to Las Vegas with his cousin Gemini to meet up with his son Matt, who has recently returned from deployment in Iraq. When Matt and his fiancée, Gabrielle, marry and skydive from a plane, a sandstorm develops, which cannot be defused by Astro-X. It absorbs the water and sharks from a giant tank located in Reynolds' hotel, creating a sharknado that floods the streets of Las Vegas. Fin, Gemini, Gabrielle, and Matt work together to survive the storm until it retreats into the desert.

At Astro-X, Colonel Shepard works on a weaponized mech suit with his granddaughter Claudia and head scientist Wilford Wexler. However, Fin and his family are unaware that Wilford has reconstructed his daughter and Fin's wife, April, into a cyborg in order to save her life, following her death in the previous movie. Fin and the group take a train back to Kansas, but the Las Vegas sharknado follows them. They meet with Reynolds at an Astro-X facility, where Reynolds unsuccessfully recruits Fin to his side in order to recover from the negative publicity created from Astro-X's failure to stop the Las Vegas sharknado.

Meanwhile, April learns of Wilford's lies and escapes his lab. A "lavanado" forms in Yellowstone National Park, while a "hailnado" touches down at Astro-X's headquarters in San Francisco. April rescues Shepard and Claudia and reveals she's alive. Fin and the group travel to April's Acres, where an approaching sharknado forces Raye and Gil into their underground bunker. Fin and the group arrive to fend off the sharks, but Gabrielle is killed. Fin, Gil, Gemini, and Matt seek shelter in the farmhouse, which is carried by the sharknado to Chicago. Reynolds uses new isotopes in his Astro-Pods to destroy the lavanado and the hailnado.

Reynolds flies Shepard, Claudia, and April to Fin's location in Chicago, where they rescue everyone from the rubble. April reunites with her family, allowing her to meet Gil for the first time. Meanwhile, Reynolds struggles to diffuse a "lightningnado" due to its electricity blocking their attempts. The situation worsens when the lightningnado strikes the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Ohio, transforming it into a deadly "nukenado" filled with radioactive sharks. Reynolds realizes that the only way to diffuse the nukenado is to transform it back into a regular sharknado so that the Astro-Pods will work on it.

Reynolds suggests that the engines of Colonel Shepard's mech suit can be used to power a device to remove the radioactivity from the storm by drawing massive amounts of water into it. Fin realizes that the only location with enough water to work is Niagara Falls, in New York, so they travel there with the nukenado on their tail. Reynolds volunteers to jump from his jet in a squirrel suit to set off the device, which will reverse the water flow upward into the nukenado and cool it down. However, the device fails to have sufficient power, and the land below Reynolds cracks, sending him off the cliff into the water below to his death.

Shepard volunteers to pilot the mech suit to complete the plan, but he, Claudia, and Matt are swallowed by sharks. Fin puts on the suit and flies into the storm to reach the device. He uses the suit's power supply to activate the device, but he is severely injured. Niagara Falls is reversed into the nukenado, neutralizing its radiation and rendering it a normal sharknado. The Astro-Pods are activated, destroying the storm. Fin is swallowed by a shark, which is swallowed by three more sharks and a blue whale in quick succession. Gil uses a chainsaw to cut open the whale and sharks, revealing Shepard, Claudia, and Matt all alive.

They pull out an unconscious Fin, who they revive using April's power supply and two sharks as an improvised defibrillator. Suddenly, the Eiffel Tower falls from the sky. Nova, who was earlier mentioned to be vacationing in Paris, emerges from the tower, causing the Shepards to realize that the sharknado crisis may now be global.

Cast

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Principal cast

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Supporting cast

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Other notables, credited as background

Production

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The film was confirmed to follow upon Sharknado 3's premiere.[15] Sharknado 3 concludes with a cliffhanger regarding whether or not April is killed by falling wreckage. An ad after the film promoted a Twitter campaign offering fans the chance to decide her fate with the hashtags "#AprilLives" or "#AprilDies", with the results revealed in the forthcoming Sharknado 4 which aired in July 2016.[16] Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Ryan Newman, and David Hasselhoff were announced to reprise their roles from previous films. New cast members include Masiela Lusha as Gemini, Fin's cousin, Cody Linley replacing Chuck Hittinger as Matt Shepard, Imani Hakim as Gabrielle, a soldier and Matt's girlfriend, Gary Busey as Wilford Wexler, April's rich father, Cheryl Tiegs as Raye Shepard, Fin's mother, Tommy Davidson as Aston Reynolds, playboy tech billionaire and Astro-X, Kenya Moore as Monique, a hotel manager working for Reynolds, Cynthia Bailey as Addison, a tech analyst, and Maya Stojan as Romy, Wilford's assistant and Anthony Rogers as Gil Shepard.

The title, poster, and opening crawl of the film is an homage to Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[17][18] Sharknado: The 4th Awakens takes place in Chicago and Las Vegas.[citation needed]

Reception

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The film received mostly negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports a 14% score with an average rating of 3.4/10, based on 14 critics. The consensus reads: "Sharknado: The 4th Awakens loses the ridiculous charm of its predecessors, leaving only clumsy social commentary and monotonous schtick that's lost its bite."[19] On Metacritic it has a score of 35% based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[20]

The film was watched by 2.77 million people.[21]

Sequel

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Main article: Sharknado 5: Global Swarming

Rumors of a fifth film, to be titled Sharknado 5... Earth 0, first surfaced in October 2016. On February 2, 2017, The Asylum confirmed via their official Facebook page that the fifth film had entered production under the working title Sharknado 5, with Ian Ziering, Tara Reid and Cassie Scerbo reprising their roles as Fin, April and Nova, respectively. In Sharknado 5, Fin and his wife April travel around the world trying to save their young son who is trapped inside a sharknado. On June 1, 2017, the title was unveiled to be Sharknado 5: Global Swarming with the tagline "Make America Bait Again".[22] A year later, The Last Sharknado: It's About Time! was announced.

References

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  1. ^ Prudom, Laura (April 1, 2016). "'Sharknado 4' Sets Title and Premiere Date on Syfy". Variety. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  2. ^ Wayt, Matt (June 23, 2016). "Tara Reid's fate is revealed in a new Sharknado 4 trailer". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on June 26, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  3. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Spoiler Alert! Tara Reid's Character Is Alive in 'Sharknado 4,' But How?". Entertainment Tonight (ET Online). June 22, 2016. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Mitovich, Matt Webb (March 9, 2016). "Sharknado 4 Casts Gary Busey (as Tara Reid's Dad), Cheryl Tiegs, Four Others". TVLine. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Swift, Andy (May 4, 2016). "Sharknado 4 Unveils Star Wars-Themed Poster, Full List of Celebrity Cameo s". TVLine. Archived from the original on February 9, 2017. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  6. ^ Swartz, Tracy (May 4, 2016). "Stacey Dash to play Chicago mayor in 'Sharknado: The 4th Awakens'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on May 18, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Sharknado 4 Cameos". www.syfy.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Burke, Minyvonne (July 31, 2016). "'Sharknado 4' Cameos: See The List Of Celebrities Starring In 'The 4th Awakens'". International Business Times. Archived from the original on July 3, 2017. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  9. ^ Gonzalez, Sandra (May 4, 2016). "This list of 'Sharknado 4' cameos is expectedly bonkers". mashable.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  10. ^ "'Sharknado 4' taps 'Shark Tank' stars -- but (so far) not Mark Cuban". Guidelive.com. May 4, 2016. Archived from the original on August 6, 2016.
  11. ^ a b c "'Sharknado 4' Review: This Joke Has No Teeth Anymore". www.thewrap.com. July 29, 2016. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Natalie Morales and Al Roker make cameo in 'Sharknado 4'". www.today.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  13. ^ "Seth Rollins to appear in 'Sharknado 4: The Fourth Awakens'". WWE. July 31, 2016. Archived from the original on August 25, 2017. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  14. ^ "Tara Reid's Sharknado 4 fate revealed; Gilbert Gottfried & more join cast". www.joblo.com. June 22, 2016. Archived from the original on November 13, 2019. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  15. ^ "Sharknado 4 confirmed by Syfy as third film premieres". BBC News. July 23, 2014. Archived from the original on July 26, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  16. ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (July 22, 2015). "'Sharknado 4' Announced: Director Anthony C. Ferrante Teases Details on Next Sequel". Variety. Archived from the original on February 7, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  17. ^ Chappell, Les (August 1, 2016). "Sharknado: The 4th Awakens proves it's time to put this franchise to sleep". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  18. ^ Cooper, Gael (May 4, 2016). "'Sharknado' turns to the shark side with Star Wars-style poster". CNET. Archived from the original on July 9, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  19. ^ "Sharknado: The 4th Awakens". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  20. ^ "Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens". Metacritic. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  21. ^ "UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 7.31.2016". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on August 5, 2016.
  22. ^ "'Sharknado 5' Title and Cameos Announced -- See Who's in the Movie! | Entertainment Tonight". www.etonline.com. June 1, 2017. Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
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