Syfy

“Sharknado 4” is stealing a page out of the “Star Wars VII” book — but unfortunately, not out of the actual screenplay.

The full title for the upcoming silly Syfy movie is “Sharknado: The 4th Awakens,” the NBCUniversal cable channel and producer The Asylum unveiled on Friday. We’d say this is an April Fool’s Day joke, but this is the “Sharknado” franchise we’re talking about.

The two-hour original movie will premiere on Sunday, July 31 at 8/7c. Here’s the official title card:

Also Read: 'Sharknado 4' Cast Revealed: Gary Busey and Cheryl Tiegs Join Ian Ziering, Tara Reid

The fourth installment will take place five years after the East Coast was ravaged in last summer’s “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” Fin (Ian Ziering), his family and the cosmos have been blissfully sharknado-free in the intervening years, but now sharks — and ‘nados! — are being whipped up in places (and ways) least expected, the companies teased.

Tara Reid is also set to return as April Wexler to reveal the outcome of the fan-voted #AprilLives or #AprilDies social campaign. David Hasselhoff (as Gil Shepard) and Ryan Newman (as Claudia Shepard) will also reprise their roles. New additions to the cast include Gary Busey, Tommy Davidson, Imani Hakim, Cody Linley, Masiela Lusha and Cheryl Tiegs. More actors will be unveiled soon.

Anthony C. Ferrante returns to direct an original screenplay written by Thunder Levin.

9 April Fools' Day Headlines That Turned Out to Be True (Photos)

Happy April Fool's Day. We hope you don't fall for any tricks -- and that you don't take any real headline to be fake. Here are some examples of April 1 headlines that turned out to be completely real.
Singer Marvin Gaye was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gaye Sr., on April 1, 1984. The news was so shocking and the timing so unfortunate that even Gaye's close friend Smokey Robinson thought it was a morbid prank by the disc jockey on the radio station where he heard it.

Also Read: Robin Thicke Lawsuit: Marvin Gaye’s Family Claims He Stole TWO Songs
Van Halen was one of the biggest rock bands on the planet in 1985, so it's not a surprise that lead singer David Lee Roth announcing his exit from the band, on April 1, would be considered to be a joke by most fans. But exit he did, to be replaced by Sammy Hagar, who took the band to even greater success.

Also Read: Eddie Van Halen Trashes David Lee Roth: ‘Act Like You’re 60’
Getty Images
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, known simply as Selena, was murdered on March 31, 1995, but that proximity to April Fools' Day was enough for some fans to accuse radio station KEDA-AM, which broke the news initially, of lying about it.

Also Read: Jennifer Lopez’s Touching Tribute to Selena at Billboard Latin Music Awards (Video)
Facebook
On April 1, 2004, Google announced an invitation-only beta version of a new e-mail service, called GMail. With tongue-in-cheek press release in tow, the idea seemed like a fantasy, especially the 1GB space Gmail offered -- at a time when the most popular free email hosts like Hotmail and Yahoo were offering 2MB and 4MB, respectively.

Also Read: Gmail and Other Google Services Suffer Crash
Google
In a headline befitting The Onion itself on any day, the news that the satirical news humor website had won a Peabody Award landed, fittingly, on April 1, 2009.

Also Read: The Onion CEO Steve Hannah to Step Down
The Onion
One of the biggest piece of fanboy news was almost written off as an April Fools' joke in 2010, when the now defunct IESB revealed that Joss Whedon was Marvel's top choice to direct "The Avengers." After two weeks of speculation, Marvel officially confirmed Whedon was the one.

Also Read: Joss Whedon Tapped for ‘Avengers’
Getty Images
In 2012, Ashton Kutcher may have been best-known for taking over for Charlie Sheen on CBS' "Two and a Half Men." So it may have come as quite a shock when the announcement was made on April 1 that he would be playing Apple founder Steve Jobs in an indie movie, "Jobs," a full two years before Michael Fassbender was nominated for an Oscar for playing him in Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs."

Also Read: Ashton Kutcher to Play Steve Jobs in Indie Film
Open Road
In a real life superhero moment that seems too good to be true -- especially on April 1, 2015 -- UFC fighter Matt Hamill saved a baby in a runaway car. The baby's mother had fallen unconscious due to alcohol, causing her to weave erratically into oncoming traffic. Hamill drove after it, stopped it and then punched through the car windows in order to rescue the baby.

Also Read: Former UFC Champ Randy Couture Rescues Family From Car Wreck
Getty Images
On April 1, 2015, Lifetime announced its newest movie of the week: "A Deadly Adoption" -- starring Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. It was the perfect setup for a great prank, but this one was dead serious. One day after the news broke, Ferrell and Wiig's camps announced the movie had been scrapped -- that turned out to be the joke, and the movie premiered two months later.

Also Read: Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig to Star in Lifetime Movie ‘A Deadly Adoption’
Lifetime

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From the death of Marvin Gaye to a Will Ferrell-Kristen Wiig Lifetime movie, these events were unfortunately timed but were 100 percent real

Happy April Fool's Day. We hope you don't fall for any tricks -- and that you don't take any real headline to be fake. Here are some examples of April 1 headlines that turned out to be completely real.

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