Piranha 3d — Part 2

Let’s be real. When Alexandre Aja’s Piranha 3D hit theaters in 2010, nobody expected high art. We expected blood, breasts, and buckets of CG chum. What we got was a modern cult classic—a film that understood the assignment so well it gave us a Jerry O’Connell helicopter dick joke and a cameo by Richard Dreyfuss humming the Jaws theme before getting eaten.

Dimension Films, run by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, was notorious for mismanaging horror franchises. After the moderate box office success of Piranha 3D ($83 million on a $24 million budget), the Weinsteins demanded the sequel be made for a fraction of the cost. They also insisted on converting it to 3D in post-production (a cardinal sin after the first film’s beautiful native 3D).

What’s your dream death scene for a water park piranha attack? Drop it in the comments below. piranha 3d part 2

Director Alexandre Aja has stated he would return only if given complete creative freedom. Meanwhile, original star Ving Rhames (who famously lost his legs in the first film while shooting a spear gun) has said he would reprise the role as a “wheelchair-bound, double-amputee piranha-hunter with rocket launchers for arms.”

The movie's influence can be seen in more recent aquatic horror films, which have borrowed from its playbook of gore and mayhem. Piranha 3D Part 2 may not be a masterpiece, but it's a fascinating footnote in the evolution of the piranha film genre. Let’s be real

While Elizabeth Shue’s Sheriff Forester was set to return in a cameo, the lead was to be Danielle Panabaker as a marine biology grad student. The most exciting (and bizarre) casting rumors included David Hasselhoff playing a grizzled water park security guard, and shockingly, Gary Busey as a crazed boat captain who uses a jet ski mounted with a lawnmower blade to chop piranha in mid-air.

Director John Gulager ( Feast ) was attached to helm, and filming was actually scheduled for late 2011. However, the Weinsteins kept cutting the budget, demanding more gore for less money, and famously rejected the script five times. By 2012, the project entered “development hell.” Then, in 2017, the Harvey Weinstein scandal erupted, and The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy. Among the thousands of assets liquidated, Piranha 3DD (or Part 2 ) was permanently declared dead. What we got was a modern cult classic—a

The story picks up a year after the massacre at Lake Victoria. Prehistoric piranhas, having survived eradication efforts, travel through underground waterways to a newly opened water park called "The Big Wet".

So why did we get the neutered Piranha 3DD (2012) instead of the glorious Piranha 3D Part 2 ?

The Weinstein Company, fresh off a string of flops, gutted the budget. They shot the sequel in 2D and converted it half-heartedly. The water park set was scrapped for a boring water slide in a field. The 3D, which was the entire gimmick of the franchise, was flat. The result? A movie that felt ashamed of its own premise.