Screen Junkies
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, including The Screen Junkies Show, Movie Fights!, Honest Trailers, Honest Trailer Commentary, Screen Junkies Universe , Movie Reviews, Charting with Dan, CRAM IT, and others.
On October 21, 2016, the ClevverMovies channel announced that it would be rebranding into Screen Junkies News on November 1, 2016. Roth Cornet was chosen to serve as editor-in-chief. 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. On April 15, 2019, the Screen Junkies News channel was renamed "Fandom Entertainment." Most of its programming, including the flagship show, Screen Junkies Universe, remains unchanged.
As of June 2020, Screen Junkies has over 8.28 million subscribers and over 2.3 billion video views over its two channels.
Videos
Programs
''Honest Trailers''
Honest Trailers is an Emmy-nominated web series of parody trailers of films, and occasionally TV shows, that are made to satirize the film. The videos are narrated by Jon Bailey.Originally co-created by Brett Weiner and Andy Signore, 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. The series started when the creators saw that ' 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. 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. The creators watch the movie a number of times before writing the script as a group. Subjects are chosen by a combination of current popular movies and suggestions from viewers, with an aim of making the videos go viral. 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.
As of August 2019, the series has skewered the following TV series: ', Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Entourage, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., X-Men: The Animated Series, The Flash, and Sherlock. The series has also done "mini-trailers" for the 2016 Primetime Emmys, and a parody trailer of the 1964 TV movie Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
The series was first narrated by comedian Ptolemy Slocum who narrated only the first video. The next dozen were narrated by Gannon Nickell, before he enlisted in the military and Jon Bailey replaced him. 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.
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. Reynolds reprised his role as Deadpool for the Honest Trailer for Logan, the series' 200th video, and the Honest Trailer for Deadpool 2.
The series' creators often bring in external help for particularly complex shows, like the cross-over episode of ', and the musical episodes of Moana, Frozen, Mary Poppins, The Greatest Showman, The Lion King , Aladdin, The Little Mermaid , Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory , A Star is Born, and La La Land.
The series' 100th video, for 50 Shades of Grey, was released in May 2015, the 200th, for Logan ', was released on May 23, 2017, and the 300th, for the MCU, was released on June 18, 2019. As of August 2019, the Honest Trailer for Titanic is the most viewed at over 41 million views, with Game of Thrones Vol. 1 slightly behind at just over 40 million.
Not all videos speak negatively about their films; for , contrary to typical style, the creators found it difficult to raise negative points and conceded that the film was good. 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".
The head writer of Honest Trailers is Spencer J. Gilbert, who also appears on Movie Fights. Other writers include Dan Murrell, Joe Starr, Danielle Radford, and Lon Harris.
''The Screen Junkies Show''
The Screen Junkies Show covers a variety of topics in film and television. Some episodes include interviews with actors, "supercuts", and information and updates on movies. The Screen Junkies Show is hosted by Hal Rudnick.''Movie Fights''
"Movie Fights", typically hosted by Rudnick, 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 speedrun 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 speedround questions, so that the contestant can challenge the current champion to a speedround match using the speedround 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, 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, a similar style show was introduced critiquing the second season of USA's "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, 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 two year 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 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. 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'. The first episode appeared on 8 April 2017 on Screen Junkies News. The show moved to Screen Junkies on 16 July 2017.Controversy
On October 6, 2017, Defy Media suspended Signore after allegations were made public that he had sexually harassed and attempted to sexually assault several female fans and co-workers, and had threatened retaliation if they spoke up. Several women noted that Defy Media's HR department and management suppressed or ignored their complaints for several months until they went public. On October 8, Screen Junkies announced on their Twitter page that Signore's employment was terminated effective immediately as "here is no justification for this egregious and intolerable behavior." Activity on both the main channel and the Screen Junkies News channel was then suspended until further notice following the news. The creative team of the channel requested patience from the fans; Screen Junkies News editor-in-chief Roth Cornet assured that the team was "meeting daily to find a good path forward". Activity on both channels resumed on October 30, 2017, after an update video was posted on the main channel on October 26. Signore's image was removed from the thumbnails of several videos on both channels following his termination, and several videos on both channels featuring him, including all of the Flick Bait videos, were deleted out of sensitivity.Signore filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of California on August 22, 2018 alleging he was wrongfully fired, that Defy Media did not do any investigation before firing him and stripping him of his stake in the company and that they had defamed him. The lawsuit was settled on June 24, 2019. The terms were not disclosed.
Reception
As of October 2018, Screen Junkies has over 6.5 million subscribers and over two billion video views. In 2014 the Screen Junkies YouTube Channel was listed on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels, ranked at #34. In 2015, the series writers Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Erica Russell and Andy Signore were nominated at the 5th Streamy Awards. The series was nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Several creators positively reacted to the Honest Trailers of their movies:- Zack Stentz, co-writer of Thor and ', 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. 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 ' they aimed to make that film's script "Honest Trailer-proof", finding the series a litmus test on film logic, and explaining how the choices came to be during the development process.
- Chad Stahelski and David Leitch likewise stated that they enjoy the series and have kept it in mind during the production of John Wick and its.
- During the production of Deadpool, the crew at one point considered making the Honest Trailer version of their own movie for the closing credits. 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. 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.
- The Lion King director Rob Minkoff called Honest Trailers amazing, adding that he preferred them to the regular movie trailers.
- 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 CinemaSins made on the film.
- 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 cliches, and by the time Reed came onboard years later became integral parts of the script that could not be changed without altering the whole story.
- Various creators of X-Men The Animated Series reacted positively to the Honest Trailer of their show.