Ian Ziering wants a raise for ‘Sharknado 3,’ but producers might dump him instead

Julia Xanthos/New York Day after day News “Sharknado” star Ian Ziering on a visit to the Day after day News

Ian Ziering is sick of killing sharks for pennies, by Hollywood standards.

The star of “Sharknado” and “Sharknado 2: The Second One” wants a larger payday for his efforts, but the studio that produces the horror-comedy flicks is pleased to replace anyone who causes problems. We hear Ziering was paid just over $ 400,000 for the first installment in the made-for-TV movie series.

“They’ll replace him, they’ll replace (co-star) Tara Reid. They’re not essential to the report. No one is,” a source accurate to the Asylum, the studio that produces the shark hits for cable’s Syfy channel, tells Confidenti@l. “The sharks are graphics, and everyone else is replaceable.”

While “Sharknado 3” is a go, Ziering hasn’t signed his deal and is banking on a huge pay increase after “Sharknado 2’s” ratings bonanza. Nearly 4 million people watched the camp classic last month. Like the first installment of the franchise, which was set in L.A., the second tap will also show in theaters for one weekend, bringing in even more money for the studio.

“Ian did the work and is fantastic, but it’s not ‘Avatar,’ ” a second source tells us. “The stars of the movie are the sharks, and they’re not even real.”

The movies — about storms that suck only sharks out of the ocean and drop them on land to kill humans —has become a huge success because they’re a golden ticket.They draw ratings and ads, but are extremely low-cost to produce and take only a fleeting time to shoot. The last one was filmed in New York in just 19 days.

“Ian needs to be careful how he plays this,” says our second insider. “If he questions for too much, he will be the first victim to be cut. The network execs are worse than any shark.”

Syfy/Syfy Ziering and foe in “Sharknado 2: The Second One”

The third “Snarknado” will be released next summer, although it isn’t clear where the sharks will be landing this time. The Asylum will again produce it.

Ziering formerly balked at the thought of playing a shark killer who tries to save humanity, telling ABC News last year that his wife, Erin, made him do it for the paycheck.

“I was really apprehensive, but as an actor I get my insurance from the Screen Actors Guild union, and you have to make so much every year to get that type 1 insurance,” he said. “Halfway through the script, I said to my wife, ‘Honey, I don’t know about this.’ She didn’t miss a beat, she said, ‘Look, you’re going to have two babies (by) this spring, you need to go to work.”

After calling the script “not so terrible,” he signed on. He just wants a not-so-terrible paycheck to follow.

A Ziering rep couldn’t be reached for note.