SMOSH: The Movie, co-produced by Defy Media and AwesomenessTV, will have its gala world premiere on July 23 in Anaheim, CA, adjacent to Vidcon, the world’s largest annual gathering of digital stars and their fans.
SMOSH: The Movie, stars comedy duo Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox who are best known to their 30 million YouTube subscribers as SMOSH, a Defy-owned property. The film was jointly financed by AwesomenessTV, a multi-platform media company serving the global teen audience, and DEFY Media, a leading independent creator and distributor of digital content.
In addition to Padilla and Hecox, SMOSH: The Movie features YouTube Stars Jenna Marbles, Grace Helbig, Harley Morenstein, Mark Fischback (Markplier) and Dominic “D-Trix” Sandoval (with over 40 million combined subscribers), as well as Jillian Nelson, Brittan Ross, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Michael Ian Black.
“SMOSH: The Movie marks a major next step in serving the millions of SMOSH fans and an opportunity to entertain millions more. With so many loyal fans expected at this year’s Vidcon event, where we will also celebrate SMOSH’s ten year anniversary, we couldn’t think of a better place to debut the movie,” said Defy Media CEO Matt Diamond.
“With SMOSH: The Movie, we are going to build upon what we learned from the release of Expelled, the #1 Social Movie of 2014 that debuted at the top of the iTunes charts,” said Brian Robbins, CEO and Founder AwesomenessTV. “Loved by our audience, SMOSH is a huge digital brand and Ian and Anthony are big time comedic talents. This film was a natural for us to produce and now distribute with Defy.”
SMOSH: The Movie will be launched in theatrical release immediately followed by Digital HD and major Video on Demand platforms.
SMOSH, one of DEFY Media’s most iconic properties and an online fixture since 2005, is currently the largest content brand for 13-17 year olds. With over 30 million combined YouTube subscribers, 20 million social followers and 17 million monthly unique visitors, SMOSH has one of the strongest digital footprints of any media brand in existence today. Based on the strength of this audience, SMOSH has also seen multiple chart-topping musical endeavors, record-setting channel spinoffs and top-selling mobile and game apps, with more than two million downloads to date.
A high-concept Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure for 2015, SMOSH: The Movie revolves around Ian and Anthony’s adventure through the YouTube portal to delete an embarrassing video of Anthony before his high school crush, Anna, has the chance to see it. They run into one YouTube celebrity after another on their quest to rewrite history before their high school reunion.
SMOSH: The Movie was written by Eric Falconer (Blue Mountain State, How I Met Your Mother) and directed by Alex Winter (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Freaked). The executive producers are Barry Blumberg, Brett Bouttier, Joe Davola,Shauna Phelan, Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. Brian Robbins (Varsity Blues, Expelled) serves as producer.
SMOSH: The Movie was partially shot at YouTube Space LA.