High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Snakes on a Plane is a 2006 American horror-action-thriller film directed by David R. Ellis and starring Samuel L. Jackson. It was released by New Line Cinema on August 18, 2006 in North America. The film was written by David Dalessandro, John Heffernan, and Sheldon Turner and follows the events of hundreds of snakes being released on a passenger plane in an attempt to kill a trial witness.