Screen Junkies is an online movie magazine and YouTube channel, owned and operated by Fandom, that focuses primarily on movies and television. Screen Junkies produce numerous shows now spread across two YouTube channels,[1][2] including The Screen Junkies Show (hosted by Hal Rudnick; discussions and programs about the entertainment industry and films, and the occasional press junket), Movie Fights! (a competition series that is currently usually hosted by Hal Rudnick and features players from the channel and across the web; debates about film, TV, and the industry), Honest Trailers (a series of comedic trailers, narrated previously by Ptolemy Slocum and Gannon Nickell[when?] and currently by Jon Bailey; satires of various films and television programs), Honest Trailer Commentary (a behind-the-scenes look at Honest Trailers with deleted footage and explanations by the program's creators, now usually some combination of Spencer J. Gilbert, Danielle Radford, and Lon Harris), Screen Junkies Universe (SJU) (featuring guests from the channel and across the web; discussions about industry news, the media, and fan questions), Movie Reviews, CRAM IT (a series to catch viewers up on popular franchises), and others.
On October 21, 2016, the ClevverMovies channel announced that it would be rebranding into Screen Junkies News on November 1, 2016.[3] Roth Cornet was chosen to serve as editor-in-chief.[4] Screen Junkies News focuses primarily on news-related programming, but also includes non news-related programs like answering fan questions at least once a week. On July 2, 2018, it was announced Defy Media sold ScreenJunkies to Fandom, a site similarly focused on hard-core entertainment buffs.[5] On April 15, 2019, the Screen Junkies News channel was renamed "Fandom Entertainment." Most of its programming, including the flagship show, Screen Junkies Universe (SJU), remains unchanged.
As of April 2021, Screen Junkies has over 6.75 million subscribers and over 2.6 billion video views over its two channels.[6][7]
Honest Trailers is a web series of parody trailers of films and television series that are made to satirize them. The videos are narrated by Jon Bailey.[8]
Originally co-created by Andy Signore and Brett Weiner, and shepherded by Break Media's Head of Programming Mitch Rotter, Honest Trailers debuted in February 2012 and by June 2014 had become the source of over 300 million views on the Screen Junkies YouTube channel.[8] The series started when the creators saw that Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was being re-released in 3D and decided to make a parody trailer for it, continuing the series as a result of the positive reception the videos received.[9] The series received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series at the 68th, 69th, 70th, and 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
The series' videos take approximately one week to assemble, and used to be created by around four people.[8] The creators watch the movie a number of times before writing the script as a group.[10] Subjects are chosen by a combination of current popular movies and suggestions from viewers, with an aim of making the videos go viral.[8] Though some would like to cover more television shows, they haven't done many due to the increased time commitment as the team have to watch every episode of the series versus a film.[11]
The series was first narrated by comedian Ptolemy Slocum who narrated only the first video. The next dozen were narrated by Gannon Nickell (with the exception of the one for Avatar, which was narrated by Dough Medlock), before he enlisted in the military and Jon Bailey replaced him.[8] Despite starting as a direct copy of typical movie trailer voiceovers, Bailey's narration voice has become more of a parody over time, using different styles for the various genres satirized.[8]
In May 2016, Ryan Reynolds co-narrated the Honest Trailer for Deadpool in character as the film's titular character, who is known for breaking the fourth wall.[18] Reynolds reprised his role as Deadpool for the Honest Trailer for Logan, the series' 200th video, and the Honest Trailer for Deadpool 2.[19]
The series' 100th video, for Fifty Shades of Grey, was released in May 2015,[33] the 200th, for Logan(feat. Deadpool), was released on May 23, 2017,[34] and the 300th, for the MCU (pre-Endgame), was released on June 18, 2019.[35] As of August 2019, the Honest Trailer for Titanic is the most viewed at over 41.5 million views, with Game of Thrones Vol. 1 slightly behind at just under 42.3 million.[36]
Not all videos speak negatively about their films. For the 2014 superhero film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, contrary to typical style, the creators found it difficult to raise negative points and conceded that the film was good.[10] As the show's writers often say, they have to be honest, not necessarily critical. Co-director Joe Russo said that he had the series in mind when creating the film, and aimed to make the movie "Honest Trailer-proof".[37]
The head writer of Honest Trailers is Spencer J. Gilbert, who also appears on Movie Fights. Other writers include Dan Murrell (which ultimately left after the Honest Trailer for Cats), Joe Starr, Danielle Radford, and Lon Harris.
A spin-off of Honest Trailers focused on video games, Honest Game Trailers, was also created in partnership with the Smosh Games YouTube channel (at the time, also owned by Defy Media), before relocating to the Fandom Games channel upon Screen Junkies' acquisition by Fandom. Honest Game Trailers was initially also narrated by Jon Bailey, before being replaced by Brad Venable, only for Bailey to return to the series after Venable's death in 2021.
The Screen Junkies Show
The Screen Junkies Show covers a variety of topics in film and television. Some episodes include interviews with actors, "supercuts" (compilations), and information and updates on movies. The Screen Junkies Show is hosted by Hal Rudnick.
"Movie Fights", typically hosted by Rudnick (originally Andy Signore), features debates between three other people within or outside of Screen Junkies, such as other YouTube reviewers, on various movie-related questions. This segment lasts for about an hour and a half, with the first five rounds being a roundtable debate, and the last round being a "Speed Round". Each round would begin with a question, and each contestant would have to make an argument for why their answer is best. The speed round consists of five questions, and each contestant has fifteen seconds to make a claim for their answer and ten seconds to give their rebuttal against their opponent. When a contestant wins a round or speed run question, they win a point and the person who finishes the game with the most points wins. In the match titled "Ultimate Game of Thrones Spin-off Movie?" posted on April 12, 2015, Murrell became the first ever Movie Fights Champion after winning the first ever title bout, a position held until July 13, 2017, when he lost a "Showstopper" competition to Spencer Gilbert immediately after retaining the Belt in a tournament fight. To become the next Movie Fights champion, a contestant is required either to defeat the current champion in a title bout match which occurs if the current champion wishes to "put the belt on the line", or win the special "Last Man Standing" fight where multiple contestants fight in a knock out format to win the "Showstopper", a box with 5 speed round questions, so that the contestant can challenge the current champion to a speed round match using the speed round questions found inside the "Showstopper".
Movie Fights returned on December 14, 2017, with a new format and Hal Rudnick hosting. The new format had two fighters instead of three and three judges instead of one. On March 29, the three fighter format returned, but the three judges remain.
Screen Junkies Plus
During the 56th episode of Movie Fights, which aired on November 18, 2015, new premium shows were announced to be available through screenjunkies.com or an app for a monthly fee of $4.99 with a free 3-month trial and other package options. Upon its initial release, more than ten original shows were available through Screen Junkies Plus, including Interns of F.I.E.L.D., their first scripted series.
In addition, their YouTube shows, including the Screen Junkies Show and Honest Trailers, are available through the platform, with each episode of Movie Fights also streaming live each Thursday before its Saturday YouTube release. Several cast members, notably Alicia Malone and new producer Ken Napzok, had previously worked for the Schmoes Know network, Napzok as a producer and Malone as a presenter, as the Schmoes and the Screen Junkies often work together, with numerous members of the Schmoes Know team appear on Movie Fights.
On the February 3, 2016 episode of Screen Junkies Universe, Hector Navarro was announced as the host of a new show Knocking Dead (start date Monday, February 8, 2016), which would have more of a balance of praise and criticism for the TV show "Walking Dead" than the show has been given thus far. The show focused on the second half of season 6. This slot was later used in April through June for the show Watching Thrones, a commentary on "Game of Thrones" season 6, hosted by Ken Napzok, Michele Boyd, and Spencer Gilbert and a rotating guest host, with Trisha Hershberger later becoming a regular. Starting July 7 (Thursday), a similar style show was introduced critiquing the second season of USA's "Mr. Robot" (Debugging Mr. Robot).
On the April 25, 2016 episode of Mundy Night Raw, Dan Murrell announced that a hiatus after the episode, and that he would begin a show of his own in which he'd review films. Summer Movie Report with co-host Sasha Perl-Raver debuted on May 9. Following the conclusion of Summer Movie Report, it was announced Dan would host a new movie review show called Dan's Labyrinth, which premiered on November 7.
On the 86th episode of Movie Fights (YouTube airdate June 4, 2016), it was announced that winner Matt Raub would be hosting a new weekly show Gamer Fights, which premiered on Friday, June 17. The show is created in collaboration with Smosh Games, and once a month, an episode will be available through the Smosh Games website. The first six episodes were pre-recorded. Additionally, Honest Game Trailers would be aired on Screen Junkies Plus along with Honest Game Trailers Commentaries.
In addition to their original series, Screen Junkies Plus also featured occasional special content, including Extended Editions of their Honest Trailers, a 2015 holiday special, and a Movie Fights second anniversary retrospective special.
On July 5, 2017, during Screen Junkies Universe, it was announced that the service will be going free with shows airing on YouTube spread over their two channels. Content will still be uploaded to their website until August 5, 2017.
Production of all of the Screen Junkies Plus shows halted in late 2017, and in April, 2018, screenjunkies.com was removed.
Millennial Falcon
On 19 September 2016 Screen Junkies announced that Roth Cornet would lead an open search for a new presenter.[4] YouTuber Jenny Nicholson was chosen to present Millennial Falcon, 'a deep dive into the Star Wars universe, all things Disney, breaking news, and all of the geeky minutia in between'.[38] The first episode appeared on 8 April 2017 on Screen Junkies News. The show moved to Screen Junkies on 16 July 2017.
Reception
As of April 2021, Screen Junkies has over 6.75 million subscribers and over two billion video views.[39] In 2014 the Screen Junkies YouTube Channel was listed on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels, ranked at #34.[40] In 2015, the series writers Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, and Erica Russell were nominated at the 5th Streamy Awards.[41] The series was nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.[42] Several creators positively reacted to the Honest Trailers of their movies:
Zack Stentz, co-writer of Thor and X-Men: First Class, initially called the channel's "Honest Trailers" feature "insufferable". After the channel's staff contacted Stentz, he agreed to watch the "Honest Trailer" for Thor with them, and conceded on some of the points that were brought up, claiming he initially confused them with a similar YouTube channel, implied to be CinemaSins.[43] He later appeared on the first episode of "Summer Movie Report" and the 83rd episode of Movie Fights.
The Russo brothers have declared themselves fans of the "Honest Trailer" series, and stated that during production of Captain America: The Winter Soldier they aimed to make that film's script "Honest Trailer-proof", finding the series a litmus test on film logic,[44] and explaining how the choices came to be during the development process.[45]
During the production of Deadpool, the crew at one point considered making the Honest Trailer version of their own movie for the closing credits.[47] While the idea ultimately did not come to pass, Ryan Reynolds reprised his role as Deadpool in the Honest Trailers for Deadpool, Logan and Deadpool 2. In the latter he turned the premise on its head, instead narrating an Honest Trailer for Honest Trailers in character as Deadpool.[48] The first film director Tim Miller, Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld and Colossus actor Stefan Kapičić also approved of the choices made for the Honest Trailer.[49]
The Lion King director Rob Minkoff called Honest Trailers amazing, adding that he preferred them to the regular movie trailers.[50]
Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts appeared in the Honest Trailer for his movie and helped write it, listing what he believed were legitimate faults in his own film, in contrast to the video Cinema Sins made on the film.[51]
Ant-Man director Peyton Reed stated that he found the series very funny, and explained that the similarities between the first Ant-Man film and the first Iron Man movie brought up in the Honest Trailer stemmed from the film's lengthy development process. Both movies were originally written around the same time, before their shared elements became clichés, and, by the time Reed came on board years later, became integral parts of the script that could not be changed without altering the whole story.[52]
A re-cut trailer, or retrailer, is a mashup video that uses footage from a movie or its original trailers to create a completely new context, or one different from the original source material. The mashups are parody trailers that derive humor from misrepresenting original films: for instance, a film with a murderous plot is made to look like a comedy, or vice versa. They became popular on the Internet in 2005.
X-Men is an American superhero film series based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. The series was produced by 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment from 2000 to 2020.
The Angry Video Game Nerd is an American retrogaming review comedy web series created by and starring James Rolfe. The series centers on Rolfe's titular skit character, often simply shortened to "the Nerd", a short-tempered and foul-mouthed gamer who delivers commentary on retro games of poor quality. While the series began with Rolfe simply playing games while providing retrospective commentary, the show has grown in scope to encompass sketches featuring guest characters, reviews of gaming consoles and peripherals, and short lectures about video game history and culture.
Grayson Scott "The Professor" Boucher is an American professional streetball player. He is most known for playing on the highly stylized, international AND1 Mixtape Tour; he has also appeared in several movies including, Semi-Pro, Ball Don't Lie, and Hustle and he is a playable character in several video games.
Grace Anne Helbig is an American comedian, actress, and internet personality. She is the co-creator and co-host of the podcast This Might Get Weird (2018–present) alongside frequent collaborator Mamrie Hart and is the voice of Cindy Bear in the Max animated series Jellystone! (2021–present).
A supercut is a genre of video editing consisting of a montage of short clips with the same theme. The theme may be an action, a scene, a word or phrase, an object, a gesture, or a cliché or trope. The technique has its roots in film and television and is related to vidding. The montage obsessively isolates a single element from its source or sources. It is sometimes used to create a satirical or comic effect or to collapse a long and complex narrative into a brief summary.
Smosh Games is a YouTube channel owned by Smosh, initially launched in 2012. An amalgamation between Smosh and ClevverGames by then joint owner Alloy Digital, the original members consisted of Smosh cast members Anthony Padilla, Ian Hecox, and Mari Takahashi along with ClevverGames members David "Lasercorn" Moss, Joshua "Jovenshire" Ovenshire, and Matt Sohinki.
Defy Media was an American digital media company that produced original online content for the 12–34 age group. Originally founded in 1996 as Alloy Online, the final company was formed in 2013 by its merger with Break Media.
How It Should Have Ended (HISHE) is an animated web series that parodies popular films by creating alternate endings and pointing out various flaws. Endings for many major films have been presented, using the tagline "sometimes movies don't finish the way we'd like".
CinemaSins is a YouTube channel created by Jeremy Scott and Chris Atkinson. The channel produces the "Everything Wrong With..." series that offers critique and commentary on movies. As of April 18, 2024, CinemaSins has approximately 9,170,000 subscribers and over 3.8 billion video views. Its slogan is "No Movie Is Without Sin". The channel's founders have since established a stand-alone website, CinemaSins.com, operating concurrently with the YouTube channel.
PJ Liguori is a British-Italian YouTuber and filmmaker. He is best known for his YouTube channel KickThePj. Liguori specialises in different artistic areas, including screenplay, directing, songwriting, acting, producing, editing, sound, art, crafts, and animation. His work includes the web series Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures (2015), and the shorts The Forever Train (2013) and The Lost Buoy (2022).
James Edward Costa is an American actor, voice actor, writer and director. He gained international attention for his impersonation of Robin Williams. He made his film debut in the crime-thriller film, Bring Him to Me.
Deadpool is a 2016 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the eighth installment of the X-Men film series. The film was directed by Tim Miller from a screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role alongside Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, Leslie Uggams, Brianna Hildebrand, and Stefan Kapičić. In Deadpool, Wade Wilson hunts the man who gave him mutant abilities, but also a scarred physical appearance, as the wisecracking, fourth wall-breaking antihero Deadpool.
Wayne is an American action comedy television series created by Shawn Simmons that premiered on January 16, 2019, on YouTube Premium. The series stars Mark McKenna, Ciara Bravo, and Joshua J. Williams and it follows a teenage boy who sets out to retrieve his late father's stolen car with the help of a girl he has a crush on.
The Sidemen Show is a British reality stunt web television series starring British YouTube group Sidemen, composed of JJ Olatunji, Harry Lewis, Ethan Payne, Vik Barn, Simon Minter, Josh Bradley, and Tobi Brown. The series is produced by Blue Ant Digital Studios in association with Antenna Pictures, and executive produced by Jago Lee, Dan Lubetkin, Austin Long, and James Tooley, with Craig Pickles serving as the series director and Iain Glen narrating.
Hazbin Hotel is an American adult animated musical comedy television series created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano. The series revolves around Charlie Morningstar, princess of Hell, on her quest to find a way for sinners to be "rehabilitated" and allowed into Heaven, via her "Hazbin Hotel", as an alternative to Heaven's annual "Extermination" of souls due to Hell's overpopulation. The series is produced by SpindleHorse Toons in collaboration with A24, Amazon Studios, and the animation studio Bento Box Entertainment.
Local 58 is a horror web series created by cartoonist Kris Straub. The series is a spin-off of Straub's Candle Cove creepypasta. Currently hosted on the YouTube channel LOCAL58TV, each video in the series is presented as footage of a fictional public access television channel located in Mason County, West Virginia named Local 58, with the call sign WCLV-TV, created in the late 1930s, which is continuously hijacked over a period of decades with a series of ominous and surreal broadcasts.
Deadpool and Korg React is a 2021 American superhero promotional short film featuring the Marvel Comics characters Deadpool and Korg. The film was written and directed by Ryan Reynolds, with him and Taika Waititi respectively starring as Deadpool and Korg. In Deadpool and Korg React, Wade Wilson and Korg react to the trailer of Free Guy (2021) before discussing the possibility of joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Reynolds reprises his role from the X-Men film series, while Waititi reprises his role from the MCU films Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
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