I think I remember hearing about Snakes On A Plane back in late February or early March of this year. I didn’t know anything about the movie beyond the fact that the title was brilliant and so was the casting of Samuel L. Jackson.

Weeks and months fell off the calendar and we were treated to more and more information about the movie. The teaster poster came out with it’s parody of the caduceus medical symbol. Then the first trailer. Momentum built as the blogosphere adopted S.O.A.P. as the poster child of the "so bad it’s good" movement. Parody songs were being written. People were coming up with their own versions of the poster. It seemed as though everyone was in on the joke. From a marketing perspective, it was a complete windfall. A viral campaign performing better than anyone expected. People were already exlaiming Snakes On A Plane the best movie of the summer, sight unseen. They took the ball and ran with it.

Then more and more months came and went and Snakes On A Plane was nowhere to be found. Just as it seemed even you grandmother had heard about "that crazy snake movie," nothing happened.

Then there was word that the producers arranged for reshoots to make the movie more risque. They were shooting for an R rating. Still no movie. They release the far less inventive, quasi-serious "final" poster design that immediately sucked all the fun out of the previous poster design.

Then someone made a direct to video parody (?) entitled Snakes on a Train and it felt like the momentum was lost completely.

When I went to the Internet Movie Database to see what new movies were coming out this weekend, I saw Snakes on a Plane on the list and said "Really?"

I think New Line totally blew it with this movie. There was certainly an opportunity to ride the wave of goodwill generated by the internet and make this one of the biggest movies of the summer. Now it will feel like a footnote.

I still know people that are interested in seeing this movie and – admittedly – I’m still curious. But the groundswell of interest from a few months ago is completely gone. That grandma of yours that I mentioned? She’s moved onto other things. Knitting, perhaps. Baking pies. But if New Line could have gotten the timing right, she would have gone to "that crazy snake movie" to see what all the fuss was about.

My two cents, at least.