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Snakes on a Plane opened 16 years ago today. Despite the immense internet buzz due to its title, premise, and casting, the film's gross revenue did not live up to expectations. Receiving mixed reviews, the $33 million movie only grossed US$62 million, a box office disappointment.
“I’m tired of these monkey fighting snakes on this Monday to Friday plane.”- Sam Jackson
Came here to read this.
It’s time to open some fkn windows.
Came here to post this same thing. Nice!
If anyone was thinking this would be a summer blockbuster, they were fooling themselves. This attracted a very niche audience, and was really just a ridiculous concept to begin with. This film was not meant to be taken seriously, and checked off every cliche in the book for an action movie.
That being said, if you go into it with no expectations or just expecting it to be ridiculous, it's a good watch
It probably would have done extremely well if it actually was the movie it marketed itself as.
It had the buzz and campy satire was very hot (ie, Scary Movie), but the movie was a straight forward action film instead of leaning on the absurd comedy potential, which killed word of mouth. I was working at a 16 screen theatre at the time and saw lots of live reactions.
Goldfinger did really well at the summer box office, Snakes on a Plane was just a good idea made for the wrong audience.
A snake bites a woman on the breast while she's joining the Mile High Club. Sam puts a snake in a microwave, which has a "snake" button. The guy who lands the plane only has experience flying by playing PS2 games...and is played by Kenan Thompson. And that's only the jokey shit I can remember from only seeing the movie once, while it was in the theaters. It was not a straightforward action movie.
Actually a snake crawls up a sleeping woman’s dress and she starts smiling and breathing heavily. Def not straight action film.
#MeToo
One of the most surprising box office performances that I can remember. Seemed as though it was a sure fire ~$30M opener…but struggled to get to $15M.
It was one of the first things that displayed that being Internet famous doesn't translate to people caring about the actual movie.
and if i recall correctly, wasn't the common theme on the internet making fun of the movie? i remember a bunch of people making jokes about the movie title and concept. i don't remember the hype being a positive one.
It was probably the first morbius-type movie. The internet pretended to like it while making fun of it and not bothering seeing it.
Nah, people shit on this film relentlessly and it wasn't even fun type of mocking it was known it looked horrible for weeks before it came out.
Compared to snakes, morbius is shawshank
Am I going crazy or the mocking came way after the movie's theatrical run? I don't remember anyone talking about this movie during it's initial run. It caught the memes wave way after its release.
At least, that's how I remember it.
Yeah, that was the general tone of most of it.
Joss Whedon's Serenity had already demonstrated the year before that being Internet famous and having a dedicated fan army does not translate to box office success - struggling to even make its budget back at the global box office - and that reviewed far better than Snakes on a Plane did.
Was surprised also and I saw it and the crowd has a great time with it.
we were all busy that weekend, unfortunately
I can't understand why anyone would say this, people that I knew all mocked the film and wondered why a B movie was getting a theatrical release since it seemed like a straight to video film.
If only Hollywood had learned back then that memes and clowning online don't actually equal ticket sales, then maybe Morbius re-release coulda been avoided
But if it wasn't for the re-release we couldn't have in turn re-released the memes...
Shit I if I recall correctly nothing killed the meme faster than Sony actually leaning into it. Once they rereleased there wasn't much further it could go. They'd peaked. Straight up gaslit a billion dollar company.
A morbillion dollar company*
But then we wouldn't have gotten the Morbin' time added scenes!
Yeah, people on the Internet talked a big game, but they didn't actually want to leave their dank-ass basements to see it.
These are the same guys who illegally downloaded the movie and watched it in said basements
I don't have a basement, but more importantly, this movie always seemed like a waste of quality bandwidth
I just watched IASIP S14 E2 "Thunder Gun 4: Maximum Cool" for the first time yesterday evening, lol
Or maybe the community was too niche in the first place? Not even current Twitter/ Reddit accurately represent most people’s tastes, I’m sure 2006 internet forums didn’t either.
And on top of all that, it takes a while for a movie to be made. The meme had already come and gone by the time it was released.
Wasn't forums we saw this being talked about, it was Myspace, Bebo, Facebook and youtube for me.
Regular media went wild with it too.
🏅
Best midnight show I ever went too, though.
Same! Everyone in that packed out theatre was psyched. Apparently not so much the next day or any day afterwards.
What? I remember it being a gigantic joke and the only reason to see it was to see Samuel Jackson say the mother fucking phrase.
sob, nice one.
monkey fighting snakes on this monday to friday plane.
that phrase will never let me down (got me good)
Ha!
Basically the Morbius situation.
The film is called snakes on a fucking plane. Even Samual L Jackson can’t save that shit.
I remember getting Robocall with Samuel L . Hilarious.
Yes!
I remember someone sent one to me at the time. I think they were customizable and they chose all the wrong options- I remember Samuel L Jackson calling me a gym rat. One of the most surreal moments of the era for me.
There’s one where he yells at you to stop smoking that wacky tobacky. Came out right when I started smoking weed in highschool I was definitely the target audience.
Waiting for the sequel, Snakes Are Still On A Plane. It's about people stuck on the tarmac for eight hours waiting for clearance to begin their fight and not being allowed to exit the plane, and there are also snakes on the plane
There was one of those shitty movies released right around the same time called Snakes on a train.
I think a lady was pregnant with snakes and that's how it happened. Could be wrong I never watched it.
And I still cannot get on a plane without complaining about mother effing snakes.
Wait - people took this movie seriously? I remember even back then thinking that this was basically a parody of plane movies like passenger 57.
I know Samuel L Jackson was in it, but this was basically a sharknado situation - jam two things together for no reason because it’s dumb and silly
I wouldn’t say anyone took it seriously. Although, I still maintain the movie did what it set out to do exceptionally well, if it was to be a love letter to B movies.
Ya this was a great example of diving head first into the campiness while never actually admitting you are doing so. Lots of B movies can't get the formula right of when to serious and when to camp
I was sold when the two bad guys approach the guy hanging upside down and one stops awkwardly, punched the dude, pauses awkwardly and the scene carries on.
The upside to Sharknado is it didn't cost $6 to go and see it.
Thanks for reminding me about passenger 57, it was pretty good I wonder if it holds up. Time for a rewatch.
Just remember: Always bet on black.
(That's all I got. Haven't seen the movie in 20+ years, only remember that line and that it's one of the few movies Tom Sizemore was in that his character didn't die.)
Reminds me of the cop parody movie he did with Emilio Estevez.
Cable reruns meant I watched Loaded Weapon 1 too many times.
I'd say it's allot more serious than sharknado . Has a huge budget compared to it and obviously way more star power
It was a meme before it came out while Morbius became a meme after. I see them as kind of related phenomena.
The film was quite cheap, all things considered. I'd thought the budget was north of $50m.
But either way, in terms of concept, this film was the cinematic equivalent to the Simpsons moment when Homer designs a car for his brother's company, as an "average American", and it's a huge flop.
Hollywood needs to sometimes be reminded that you don't listen to internet memes and viral messages when it comes to financial decisions.
What's the minimum gross to be considered a success?
I believe you have to at least triple your budget . Or make double your budget domestically at least . Thing is the studio does'nt get the entire 62 million . If the budget were say 10 million , then it would be considered a success I believe although still not hugely , but at least better than your budget being 30 mil
Box office gross is what the audience pays, but less than half of that goes to the studio, the rest stays with the cinema. Common wisdom on this sub says, that around 50% of the domestic gross (US&Canada) and 40% of the international gross go to the studio (and 25% from China, but i believe Snakes On A Plane did not release there).
So you need to more than double your budget to make a profit.
On top of that, the budget does not include marketing costs, which can be very expensive for would-be-blockbusters.
On the other hand, there is also the income (and cost) from TV, streaming, DVD, etc...
But overall, if you want to be sure that a movie was a hit, you need to tripple the budget.
If you want to see some numbers based on some very educated guesses from a big publication start here:
One of the executive producers was in my brother’s high school graduating class. Not sure that’s something to be proud of but I am sure it made for interesting talk at the class reunions. I love Samuel L. Jackson but that movie was absolutely awful.
So kiss me good byyyyyyye!!!
SIXTEEN YEARS????
Yeah man wtf I can’t believe it’s that old!!
I remember seeing it at the midnight opening with a friend. It was funny.
At our midnight showing, a guy walked in wearing a plane costume made poorly out of cardboard boxes with snakes coming out various joints. Walked to the front of the auditorium, yelled the line, received applause, then proceeded to his seat.
Same. Had a group of us went together and snuck in beers and also loads of small plastic snakes. Every time snakes popped out we threw them in the air. It was a hilarious good time and everyone in the theater was dying laughing and saying the main lines.
Honestly one of the best movie experiences I've had.
I watched this on a Discord movie night with friends! Very fun and memorable, I should do that stuff more often.
SMH at the box office results to be honest
A film was made to showcase snakes air travel and none of them showed up to support? What the heck snakes?
I get that many may be turned off by the killing of their kind but its just a film, its not real!
They had a great marketing strategy. You could call into a hotline, answer some questions and it'd call your friends with a pre-recorded script including your answers from S. Jackson.
What is going on in this thread? This is r/boxoffice and yet several posters think you get to keep the full gross from theatrical release...
Several lost redditors. I guess the post apparently made it to r/all
Memes don't necessarily translate into ticket sales. Sony clearly missed the memo.
They nearly doubled their money with that shit movie, they’re lucky they did that.
They did not.
I mean its pretty successful for a film that only got made because Samuel L Jackson liked the working title and thats entire selling point was a Sam saying "I've had it "
Movie made back nearly double it's creation cost and it was a flop? Fuck off.
yes, that can still be considered a flop. and this isn't based on opinion, it's based on how much money the studio makes back. the studio doesn't get 100% of that $62m. the studio usually only gets half of the total earnings. so that means the movie cost them $33m and they got $31m back. they lost money.
Box office gross is what the audience pays, but less than half of that goes to the studio, the rest stays with the cinema. Common wisdom on this sub says, that around 50% of the domestic gross (US&Canada) and 40% of the international gross go to the studio (and 25% from China, but i believe Snakes On A Plane did not release there).
So you need to more than double your budget to make a profit.
On top of that, the budget does not include marketing costs, which can be very expensive for would-be-blockbusters.
On the other hand, there is also the income (and cost) from TV, streaming, DVD, etc...
But overall, if you want to be sure that a movie was a hit, you need to tripple the budget.
If you want to see some numbers based on some very educated guesses from a big publication start here:
Know the feeling. Don’t we all hate making $30million on a $30 million investment for a few months of work.
A time when we all rose up and said "Eh".
Still waiting for the sequel, Snakes In Ukraine.
Yes because everyone was making fun of it. Yet another one of many cases Hollywood and the "mainstream" at large having zero sense of humor or even common sense. "We are laughing AT you, not WITH you."
The premise was stupid. Didn't bother.
I think that was the point.
... because it was fuckin called Snakes on a Plane
All I can think of is “it profited $29 million dollars and yet it’s a failure? God damn, how much money do these companies need? Did they give bonuses to the crew for that much profit?”
We’re so out of touch with reality.
It didnt profit 29 mil. The theaters get a cut of the box office (which would take that 29 mil over budget) and then there is advertising.
The studio unfortunately does'nt get the entire box office , even less for the overseas market . Plus advertising and marketing . Sometimes the marketing budget is more than the production budget . I was really surprised to learn that A Quiet Place had abudget of 17 million ,yet the studio spent a whopping 86 million on advertising and prints for the film . It then made a huge profit as the film made I believe over 350 million dollars . Then there's something like Saw 2 where the budget was 4 million amd marketing cost 2 million and the film made a massive 147 million worldwide , it's easy to see why Saw is teleasing a tenth film next year , they are cheap to make and huge huge returns
Throw in marketing and other expenses and it likely barely broke even.
Then shouldn’t call it it a $33m movie.
My thoughts exactly
We only made 31 million dollars
What a disgrace
No they didn’t lol. After the theaters take their cut and the millions that went into marketing...they’re lucky to break even
Oh
Rotten tomatoes, Reddit and Twitter is not the real world, their opinion on movie should never matter to a good executive
It was before Reddit, Twitter, and barely anyone used RT.
The film gained a considerable amount of attention before its release, forming large fanbases online and becoming an Internet phenomenon, due to the film's title, casting, 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, and various forms of literature.
Who gives a shit?
I remember watching this movie on oxygen.
This movie still made me scared of snakes being in my toilet
Sort of reminds me of a very certain, very Morby film.
I enjoyed it for what it was. CinemaScore was B-, which is surprising. I think it deserved a higher CinemaScore.
It doesn’t matter; my college friends and I got drunk and had an amazing time watching this in the theater.
How was there any buzz about this movie. I remember seeing previews for it and wondering if they had just ran out of things to make movies about.
I AM TIRED OF THESE MOTHER FUCKING SNAKES ON THIS MOTHER FUCKING PLANE!
-
Stares mother fuckerly
I watched it in the theater on $2 movie night with a bottle of cheap "champagne". Well worth it. Still would have been worth it at regular ticket price with the right audience.
The midnight showings had all the people that appreciated what it was.
I like how it always says ONLY $62 million
Black Snake Moan
I loved the soundtrack. Cobra Starship/The Academy Is collab was everything to my 7th grade emo ears.
My buddy and I wrote a theme song for it after the film partnered with a social network no one heard of to hold the contest.
We got the most votes by a long shot but they overrode the votes and picked like the 20th place track to put in the credits.
Turned out the guy who wrote that track was like the brother of the guy who ran the social network and it was all a setup.
I enjoyed watching that movie flop.
What happened to your song?
Nothing lol
I dunno. Sold a few thousand mp3s on itunes. Went slightly viral for a minute. Looking back... 😂 It's not that great of a song but damnit we won!
The most horrifying part is that 2006 was 16 years ago
This movie was so bad.
wtf that was 16 years ago
Yeah I’ve never actually watched this movie lol
Soundtrack was fire tho all early pop punk bands, pretty much an original fueled by Ramen lineup compilation 😅
how the hell is that a disappointment? it’s a novelty, nothing more
Because it only made 60 mil on a 30 mil budget that’s how
my question is why did they think it would make more than that?
Idk I don’t work for the studio
Box office gross is what the audience pays, but less than half of that goes to the studio, the rest stays with the cinema. Common wisdom on this sub says, that around 50% of the domestic gross (US&Canada) and 40% of the international gross go to the studio (and 25% from China, but I believe Snakes On A Plane did not release there).
So you need to more than double your budget to make a profit.
On top of that, the budget does not include marketing costs, which can be very expensive for would-be-blockbusters.
On the other hand, there is also the income (and cost) from TV, streaming, DVD, etc...
But overall, if you want to be sure that a movie was a hit, you need to tripple the budget.
If you want to see some numbers based on some very educated guesses from a big publication start here:
movie theaters get 100% of their profit from concesions, not ticket sales
Are you trying to say, that they don't get money from the ticket sales?
i only worked at a movie theater, wasn’t a manager, but i know all the profit came from concessions
and if you want your movie to be a hit, you do not make snakes on a plane. sure jackson thought it was a cool idea but he’s just one guy
I wonder what the movie is about
A gen z-er on tik Tok made a video about a multiple choice question that was based on snakes on a plane and had no idea the movie existed…
It was a okay movie with good cast but the storyline focused too much on the snakes instead of Samuels Jackson dealing the bad guy on the ground which is what his fans were hoping to see.
My grandpa took me to see that movie in theaters. He covered my eyes when they showed the boobies.
It should have been a straight to Netflix release
Saw this at midnight. Then 4 more times in theaters. Cinematic masterpiece.
The preview I went to that Thursday though was one of my favorite theater moments tho
That movie was exactly what I hoped it would be.
I went expecting low quality writing but shallow fun bordering on campy. Wasn’t surprised. Totally enjoyed it. Still wouldn’t rate it high. Now Arachnophobia was fire 🔥
I saw it in the theatre. Absolutely spectacular viewing experience. Haze in the theatre.
Pretty sure the mfuckin snakes line was invented by the internet and they had to reshoot it into the movie
I remember seeing this on theaters with some friends, and we had an absolute blast watching it. Shame it didn't perform well.
I watched this at a midnight showing in San Francisco with drag queens dressed as flight attendants doing a preshow in front of the screen. It was an awesome experience, but I haven't watched it since then so I guess that says something about it's quality as a movie.
They spent $33 million on Snakes on a Plane?
Turns out you can meme about something without needing to actually see it.
I remember when that movie came out and the "immense Internet buzz" was just people making fun of Hollywood for scraping the bottom of the barrel and producing that garbage.
Literally nobody wanted to go see it. We just wanted to make fun of it
Such a shame! This movie was fun as hell in the theater. It was an empty theater, sorry to say, but that may have added to the fun.
This film deserves better. Ridiculous movies are a cinematic tradition and SOaP is a forerunner to the Shardnados.
I remember this movie generating enough online hype that the Asylum made Snakes on a Train (yes, this is also a real movie) as a cash-in.
Okay, now that is a movie that only worked on opening night, in theaters on August 18th, 2006.
I did my part and saw it in a theater
I still have the Cobra Starship - Snakes on a Plane song on my playlist.
The soundtrack was such a 2000's post punk emo-pop staple for many.
I saw the first act or so. It's just a really mediocre movie. But they were trying so hard to please the internet nerds and it backfired. You have to have a good script and a good director and you have to have a vision for a movie to work. This thing was just "oh please like us, internet, please like us!"
"Snakes on a Plane" was never supposed to be the title; that was just a placeholder while it was in production, more of a joke. But it leaked to the internet and everyone lost their minds. It was supposed to be something bland like "Flight 201" or the like but then the producers said fuck it, let's just keep the silly name.
Sam Jackson's line about "these muthafuckin' snakes" was based on some rando on Digg or somewhere saying "Sam Jackson better say..." And they literally did reshoots based on what the fans wanted to see.
If the filmmakers had been talented, maybe it would've done well. But they weren't, and it didn't.
I’m part of that 60 mill lol
It was originally titled Venom, and I think they changed it to lean into the absurdity of the plot which may have doomed it. As others have said, it is not that bad of a movie compared to what they pump out on streaming these days.
The first proof we had of the gulf between the internet bubble and general audiences
I think this is when studios realized Twitter isn't real life. And upvotes don't equal ticket sales.
$33m for the whole film? That's pretty crazy considering now Sam Jackson gets about 20m for every staring roll. Is that just inflation or has his performance fee just gone up that much
This is what will happen to the Barbie film
This movie had no business being as fun as it was lol
Edit: business, not visions lol
This movie was amazing. I’m mad that Snakes on a Train was never made.
Ahh the cult classic for all the wrong or right scene.
Bet it did well on DVD though
No it lived up to expectations, it was a terrible movie and looked like a terrible movie.
The Failures of Serenity and Snakes on a Plane were interesting. Both were big bets by Hollywood studios based on internet Hype. The problem was this was pre-social media, so they didn’t really have the tools or the data to see if there was validity to the hype. Also internet culture was actually quite small and insular, even if it didn’t seem so.
Social media changed that.
Yeah I thought it was a dumb show
I love Samuel Jackson when he played in a long kiss good night great show
This movie only had "buzz" bc anyone that watched the trailer knew it was an intentional trash movie
This movie was hilariously bad. I watched it once and that was enough for my lifetime.
16 years ago?! My god I’m old. This movie was better than expected. By a bit. But was probably the target audience.
One of the first warning shots that Internet buzz and memes did not a viable big budget movie make.
I saw it in the theater was I was 26 years old. I really enjoyed it and even have the DVD to this day on my shelf.
What a fun time at the movies
To me i enjoy it. Honestly if it were to be made today it still would never made a box office success
It sucks.
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