MFF Special: Analyzing the Data on Movies Featuring Snowmobile Action Scenes

Henchman on a snowmobile = A very hurt henchman

When I released my cinematic jet ski action scene data years back I received many messages asking me to compile the data for movies featuring snowmobile action scenes. I didn’t know if I wanted to do it because it felt too similar to the jet ski data and I didnt’ want to rehash material. However, I felt bad that I was turning down so many requests and I’m always down to point out that jet ski action scenes are terrible, so I went ahead and researched the scenes (there are many snowmobile sites that complain about the usage of snowmobiles in movies) and crunched the numbers on the action scenes!

I knew the numbers would be better than jet ski movies, however, I was surprised that there weren’t that many of them. I did a A LOT of research and thought I’d have a list around 50 to 60 movies. I ended up with 23 movies that had reliable box office data and critical scores. I had to leave movies like Tripwire, Santa’s Slay and Icebreaker (watch it…Bruce Campbell is the villain) out because they didn’t have critical scores or weren’t released theatrically.

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What constitutes a snowmobile action scene? They are scenes that feature an action set piece involving chases, jumps, spills and beheadings while on snowmobiles. It can’t just be a person riding a snowmobile on his way to an action scene. It has to feature spills, chills, bullets, carnage, avalanches or massive jumps. Watch this Die Hard 2 clip and you will know what I’m talking about.

Here are the numbers for movies featuring snowmobile action scenes

• Total Number of Movies – 19 – Die Hard 2, Snow Day, True Lies, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, xXx, The World is Not Enough, Babylon A.D., Inception, The Fate of the Furious, Jackie Chan’s First Strike, Die Another Day, Agent Cody Banks, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,  Johnny English Reborn, The Santa Clause 2, Fred Claus, Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings (no box office), Braven (no box office), Lederhosen Zombies (no box office), Deadfall (no box office), 22 July, (no box office)
• Tomatometer Average – 47.1%
• Domestic Box Office (inflated) – $158 million
• Worldwide Box Office (inflated) – $350 million
• Budget (inflated) – $112 million

* I love Wind River but it doesn’t feature any snowmobile action scenes. I figured I would put this here because it will most likely be brought up.

Here are the numbers for jet ski action scene movies:

• Total Number of Movies – 17 – The Pacifier, Hard Rain, Waterworld, Double Dragon, Transporter 2, Transporter: Refueled, Speed 2, Shark Night, Deep Rising, Fool’s Gold, Piranha 3D, Baywatch, Police Academy 3: Back in Training, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, Meet the Deedles, Universal Soldier: The Return, Dhoom 3
• Tomatometer Average – 28%
• Domestic Box Office (inflated) – $61 million
• Worldwide Box Office (inflated) – $122 million
• Budget (inflated) – $73 million

Why are the numbers higher than jet ski action movies? Here is a list that features zero correlation or causation.

1. Snowmobile action scenes have realistic and life threatening stakes. If you wipe out on a snowmobile you are in trouble. Thus, they are much more exciting and won’t make you fall asleep like you do when a jet ski action scene comes on (I literally passed out during the jet ski chase in Baywatch)
2. Vin Diesel loves snowmobile action scenes more than he loves jet ski action scenes. The Fate of the Furious, xXx, and Babylon A.D. > The Pacifier
3. The Fate of the Furious, Inception, Die Hard 2, The Living Daylights, A View to a Kill, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day and The Living Daylights all made over $300 million at the worldwide box office.
4. Jet ski action scenes basically feature people going in straight lines……
5. 35% (7) of the snowmobile action scene movies have fresh (60%+) Tomatometer scores.
6. 7% (1) of the jet ski action scene movies have a fresh Tomatometer score
7. Directors like James Cameron (True Lies), Christopher Nolan (Inception), Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2) and F. Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious) trust snowmobiles enough to include them in their action scenes.
8. Have you watched the jet ski action scene in Hard Rain?
9. James Bond loves snowmobiles.
10. The conclusion to the snowmobile chase in Wrong Turn 4 is bonkers.

Movies featuring snowmobile action scenes > Movies featuring jet ski action scenes. The result of this totally unwarranted competition was never in doubt, however, I enjoyed finding out the results so I could write this data piece.

If you like this article make sure to check out my other data pieces!

1. Jet Ski Action Scenes Are the Worst
2. Analyzing the Unsuccessful Trap in Predators
3. How Far Did the Shark Travel in Jaws: The Revenge?
4. The Dolph Lundgren Front Kick Spectacular
5. How Far Did the Creature From It Follows Travel?
6. How Many Bullets Missed John Matrix in Commando?
7. Kevin Bacon’s College Degrees
8. How Fast Does the Great White Swim in Shark Night?
9. Zara the Assistant and Jurassic World Had a Bad Day
10. A Look at Elektra’s sandbag trainer in Daredevil
11. How Far Did Nic Cage Run While Dressed as a Bear In The Wicker Man Remake?
12. Breaking Down The Mariner vs. Sea Beast Battle in Waterworld
13. How Long Did it Take The Joker to Setup the Weapon Circle in Suicide Squad?
14. Michael Myers Hates Blinkers
15. Jason Voorhees Can’t Teleport?
16. Michael Myers Loves Laundry
17. How Far Did the Merman Travel in The Cabin in the Woods?
18. How Far Did Matthew McConaughey Jump in Reign of Fire?
19. How Fast can Leatherface Run?
20. Deep Blue Sea and Stellan Skarsgard
21. How Far Did Michael Myers Drive in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
22. How Did the Geologist Get Lost in Prometheus?
23. People Love a Bearded Kurt Russell
24. A Closer Look at Movies That Feature the Words Great, Good, Best, Perfect and Fantastic
25. An In-Depth Look At Movies That Feature Pencils Used as Weapons
26. Cinematic Foghat Data
27. Explosions and Movie Posters
28. The Fast & Furious & Corona
29. Nicolas Sparks Movie Posters Are Weird
30. How Do You Make the Perfect Kevin Smith Movie?
31. Predicting the RT score of Baywatch
32. The Cinematic Dumb Data Podcast
33. What is the best horror movie franchise?
34. How Fast Can the Fisherman Clean a Trunk in I Know What You Did Last Summer?
35. It’s Expensive to Feature Characters Being Eaten Alive and Surviving Without a Scratch
36. How Long Does it Take Your Favorite Horror Movie Characters to Travel From NYC to San Francisco?
37. What was the Guy’s Blood Pressure in Dawn of the Dead?
38. Why Were There So Many Lemons in National Treasure?
39. How Far Does The Rock Jump in the Skyscraper Poster?