Snakey

New Line Cinema may be sitting on the craziest moviemaking jackpot in recent memory, as their upcoming Snakes on a Plane (already a Wikipedia entry?!?) got zillions of buckaroonies of free publicity when word leaked out last summer of a possible title change.

Fan websites flogged the story and star Sam Jackson shot back that that title was the very reason he signed on for the pic. Best of all (thank you IMDB):

In March 2006 New Line Cinema, due to massive fan interest on the Internet, allowed for a 5 day reshoot to film new scenes to take the movie from PG-13 to a R-rated film (originally the film wrapped principal photography in September 2005). Among these additions is the Jackson character's line, "I want these motherfucking snakes off this motherfucking plane," a line that originated in an anticipatory internet parody of the movie.

So the movie the fans sent notes on like a studio exec opens August 18th, by which time we'll all be sick of the high and heavy superhero special effects fests of the summer, and ready for a little snake-in-cheek action. Will the audiences show?

Here's the trailer, which is nothing if not entertaining. Okay, it's not Proust, it's a goddamn action movie. New Line is also keeping it fan friendly with a minimal website that actually features a Fan Site of the Week and Fan Kit with some video clips and other doodads.

But if you only watch one piece of Snakesanalia this weekend, it should be this loony mythologizing high art/lowbrow video collage extravaganza. Based on the near-randomly generated Internet fad that kicked off the century, All Your Base Are Belong to Us, it's a propulsive prosumer stroke for this year's most prosumer summer blockbuster.

And yes, you can dance to it.