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An 8-city screening tour and cast Q&A kicks off February 20 in Los Angeles at participating Alamo Drafthouse locations.
MARS, an animated feature film by the cult comedy troupe, The Whitest Kids U’Know, is making its long-awaited theatrical release with a special screening tour that kicks off Friday, February 20, in Los Angeles. In partnership with Synergetic Distribution, this grassroots event will bring the film and cast members to Alamo Drafthouse locations in eight different cities before rolling out to a wider theatrical release on March 13. The MARS screening tour follows the film’s world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Formed at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, the troupe—Trevor Moore, Zach Cregger, Sam Brown, Darren Trumeter,and Timmy Williams—went from scoring big at festivals to a five-season run on IFC that birthed some of the most quotable, bizarre, and boundary-pushing comedy of the 2000s.
The movie revolves around Kyle, who enters a contest to go to Mars only half seriously, since he’s getting married in a few days. When he wins, he decides to ditch his wedding to escape to the red planet. This would all be great for him except the luxury accommodations are a facade, his shipmates are insane, and the crew gets stranded on Mars with no way home.
MARS was conceived during the production of the original sketch series, often held in the same high regard as “Saturday Night Live,” “Kids in the Hall” and “SCTV.” Thanks to a booming fanbase on Twitch, the troupe was able to crowdfund the animated film’s budget and commence production.
As Sam Brown explains, “After over a decade of work, we couldn’t be more excited about finally releasing “Whitest Kids U’ Know’s Mars”. As the last project we will ever create with our beloved friend and leader, Trevor Moore, this is more than a movie to us. That being said it is still very dumb and very fun.”
No stranger to the spotlight, troupe member Zach Cregger has blossomed into one of the hottest directors in Hollywood today. After exploding onto the horror scene with the sleeper hit “Barbarian,” his success only continued with the global phenomenon “Weapons,” which is currently nominated for an Academy Award.
MARS was directed and produced by filmmaker, animator and FX artist Sevan Najarian, whose credits include “Mystery Science Theater,” Adult Swim’s “Children’s Hospital” and an extensive array of animated projects from Channel 101 fame.
Here’s a look at the trailer!
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Adjacent to the tour, MediaOCD will debut the Blu-ray home media release on March 10 with over 9 hours of extras. Those unable to make one of the screenings in conjunction with the Alamo Drafthouse can access the film via the North American platform Darkroom.
Zach Cregger, Sam Brown, Timmy Williams, Darren Trumeter, and Director Sevan Najarian will be attending the below screenings to meet and answer questions from fans:
- Los Angeles, CA – February 20
- San Francisco, CA – February 21
- Mountain View, CA – February 22
- Denver, CO – February 27
- Austin, TX – February 28
- Chicago, IL – March 6
- Brooklyn, NY – March 7
- Manhattan, NY – March 8
- National Release – March 13
Official Logline: A zany crew of misfits blasts off to Mars, only to find they’ve been duped by a scheming billionaire. Chaos ensues as they face bizarre challenges and unexpected surprises on their wacky interplanetary journey.
ABOUT SYNERGETIC: Synergetic has established itself as a robust engine in the independent film landscape, successfully curating and distributing a vast library of over 1,000 titles that spans genre-defying documentaries, foreign cinema, and cult classics. With a reputation for identifying high-quality, prestige content, the company has become a home for a large collection of independent animation, with an emphasis on anime content in recent years.
