Michael Bay is now developing a movie and TV franchise based on skibidi toilet. Skibidi toilet began as a February 2023 comedy short by Alexey Gerasimov on his YouTube channel DaFuq!?Boom!, wherein a war breaks out between toilets with human heads and human-like characters that have electronic devices instead of heads. The first short ended up going viral and has since become a meme that has circulated the internet and become especially popular in Generation Alpha.
As per Variety on their Strictly Business podcast, Bay is now working on a movie and TV franchise based on skibidi toilet. The IP will be developed for both film and TV by Bay alongside Paramount Pictures president Adam Goodman. According to Goodman, the skibidi toilet-related projects are "in talks" but in "the earliest conversations" for both the film and TV end of things. Goodman noted that he and his team have been working with Gerasimov directly to ensure that the potential franchise is "life beyond just the resources that creators have on the internet." Check out the full quote from Goodman below:
We are absolutely in talks right now, both on the television side and the earliest conversations right now on the film side. But it’s not a be-all, end-all for us.
I will say that Michael and Jeffrey Beecroft, who's his longtime production designer and a colleague of his that's worked with him on all of his movies, have been working very closely with Alexey to really professionalize the kind of back engine of this, to make sure, if we ever decide to go film or television, that this is kind of lifted beyond just the resources that creators have on the internet.
Adapting skibidi toilet into a coherent movie or television series will prove challenging. For one, DaFuq!?Boom!'s original shorts series relies on characters that bear a likeness to the video game Half-Life 2. This will provide copyright challenges for any future IP, as they cannot use assets from the existing video game without working on the copyright issues. Furthermore, skibidi toilet has become popularized by meme culture and short-form content, so making a longer-form story will be a big leap for the franchise.
Using Bay as the adaptation vehicle for skibidi toilet is an additional risk. Though many of the producer's films have been financially successful, Bay has a tough track record on Rotten Tomatoes. The majority of his Transformers movies have received rotten reviews from critics, who take swings at the film's lack of story. Prioritizing this visual spectacle over a coherent story is exactly the kind of quality that could run the risk of making a skibidi toilet movie or TV show just as mind-numbing as some of the original content.
On the other hand, Bay and Goodman could be making a brilliant financial move in riding the wave of the younger generation's internet culture. As per a Variety graphic, DaFuq!?Boom!'s monthly YouTube views over the past year have exceeded that of major franchises including the NBA, Marvel, and Star Wars. So, even if skibidi toilet is not the most highbrow of IPs to develop, it certainly has an audience, and it is one that may turn up for film and TV shows if they continue their development past the early stages.