Typically a movie starring insanely funny people like Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Nick Kroll, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson wouldn’t need to be saved. Moviegoers would see those names, realize the combination of all those people will certainly produce something funny (and perhaps even magical), and they’d happily head out to the theater to check it out.

Not the case with Sausage Party, which is inherently risky because it’s the rare R-rated animated comedy. We haven’t seen an R-rated animated comedy in wide release since 2007’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and to find the only memorable and reasonably successful R-rated animated comedy in recent years, we have to go all the way back to 1999’s South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. What both of those have that Sausage Party doesn’t is a built-in audience full of people who are fans of the pre-existing television shows. In the case of Sausage Party, we’re looking at a completely original animated movie that needs to work a little harder to convince people to take a chance on it.

Back in March, the folks from Sausage Party (including cowriters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg) took a big chance when they brought a highly unfinished version to the SXSW Film Festival. When Fandango spoke to Rogen in advance of the film’s release this week, he said this was the moment that changed everything for the movie.

“It was a very risky move, honestly,” he said. “To show a really unfinished version of the movie so early. Because if that went bad, it would’ve just destroyed us from the get-go. The studio probably would’ve rightfully just bailed on it.”

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In recent years, SXSW has debuted upcoming studio comedies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Hard, Spy and even Rogen’s own Neighbors, but Sausage Party was a completely different story mainly because it’s an animated movie and it wasn’t even close to being done at the time.

“We knew it was our only shot,” Rogen said. “We knew that the only way we could prove to the people we needed to prove ourselves to was to just show it as soon as we could to an audience who we thought would appreciate it. We just hoped that if it goes well, it would set us on a course that would lead us to the victory we all hope we get. And if it doesn’t, then we took our swing. It was the only idea we had. We couldn’t just hope that people accept this. We knew it was so strange, we had to get people behind it early and hopefully get people talking about it.”

Amusingly, Rogen fully admits the concept behind Sausage Party sounds really stupid on paper, and just trying to sell that without any assistance from people who’ve seen it and believe in it would’ve been an uphill battle the film may not have been able to endure.

“We were also aware that a movie called Sausage Party about a talking hot dog is potentially the stupidest f***ing movie on earth, and I’m sure many people will say it is the stupidest f***ing movie on earth,” Rogen joked. “But the fact that the first few things that were said about it actually seemed to get what we were going for was hugely beneficial to us and is the reason why the studio put a lot behind it and why it’s getting more attention than what potentially could be a 90-minute sketch. To us, that’s part of the fun of the challenge — is to take these ideas that seem unmakeable and try to make them.”

Sausage Party hits theaters on August 12.

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Fake Marvel Show of the Day:

Jake Gyllenhaal stars in a fan-made teaser for the nonexistent Netflix Marvel series Moon Knight (via Live for Films):

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Cosplay of the Day:

See a poodle named Mitzy made up to look like Harley Quinn and then inserted into Suicide Squad scenes:

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Musical Mashup of the Day:

Watch the characters from 230 different movies cut together to sing The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)”:

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Concert Performance of the Day:

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem played a live set, including “Can You Picture That” from The Muppet Movie, at the Outside Lands 2016 concert in San Francisco over the weekend (via Neatorama):

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Custom Build of the Day:

Vintage Works turned a motorcycle into a (non-flying) Return of the Jedi style Speeder Bike, as seen in the video below. You can see the test drive video at /Film.

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Perspective of the Day:

See how small Godzilla really was in his original movie with these photos illustrating how he’d look next to the Tokyo buildings of today (via Geekologie):

Movie Trivia of the Day:

CineFix randomly presents seven obscure bits of trivia about the 1990 Tim Burton classic Edward Scissorhands:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs Audrey Tautou, who turns 40 today, and Mathieu Kassovitz for a scene in 2001’s Amelie:

Genre Study of the Day:

Frame by Frame looks at the action sub-subgenre known as Gun Fu, highlighting movies by John Woo and those filmmakers he influenced:

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of Double Impact. Watch the original trailer for the action movie, which stars Jean Claude Van Damme as twins, below.

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The central equation behind Slavic Soul Party! is self-explanatory: an American black-music spin on the Balkan brass band. The net product is akin to a New-Orleans-style brass band, but with different percussion timbres, horn trills and glissandi. (Also, accordion, because Europe.) It’s the sort of multiculti collision you see forged in major population centers; you may be interested to know the band has a standing Tuesday night gig at a Brooklyn bar which specializes in international music.

The band’s upcoming release adds more stamps to its passport, by proxy — it’s a full re-arrangement of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn‘s late-career masterpiece The Far East Suite, an LP inspired by a trip to the Middle East and South Asia. (“Far East” is a bit of a misnomer.) The cry of an Indian mynah bird birthed the clarinet melody you hear on “Bluebird Of Delhi.” Ellington and Strayhorn then filled in the brooding bass line, the secondary theme and a relaxed swing beat.

It’s great source material to start with, but what Slavic Soul Party! does with it is the neato trick to watch out for. The bass line becomes an ominous brass blast over which a trumpet blares and folky percussion rumbles (Chris Stromquist on snare, bandleader Matt Moran on a bass-drum-like instrument). Instead of classic big-band swing, parade funk switches on instantly, the high of a lithe clarinet (Peter Hess) against the low of active tuba bass (Ron Caswell). The climax and denouement are almost the same — so as not to mess with a good thing — though the act of reimagination in multiple dialects at once ensures a much different path to its arrival.

In spite of all that’s going on, it totally works. Alternatively, because of everything that goes on, the total package works.

Slavic Soul Party! Plays Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite comes out Sept. 16 via Ropeadope.

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Mashup of the Day:

Darth Vader and Kylo Ren get together to fight Kirk and Spock in ScreenRant’s fan trailer for Star Wars vs. Star Trek:

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Bad Film Analysis of the Day:

See what an alien from the future thinks of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in the latest Earthling Cinema:

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Movie Parody of the Day:

Bobby Canavale, Rose Byrne and Jason Sudeikis star in Stoplight, Last Week Tonight‘s fake trailer for a Spotlight parody about the death of journalism (via Screen Crush)

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Cosplay of the Day:

A group cosplaying as the Suicide Squad characters maybe looking at some reviews of the movie and getting ideas for their next mission? See more pics of the group at Fashionably Geek.

Short Film of the Day:

If you like the Netflix series Stranger Things, you’ll want to check out this 2007 horror short from its creators, the Duffer Brothers, titled Eater (via The Playlist):

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Collaboration of the Day:

Here’s another must-see short film, this one from the minds of Walt Disney and Salvador Dali called Destino (via Nameless.tv):

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Dustin Hoffman, who turns 79 today, takes a leap on the set of Lenny with director Bob Fosse looking on in 1974:

Actors in the Spotlight:

Vanity Fair got the next generation of stars, including Douglas Booth, Lily Collins, Kieth Stanfield and Elizabeth Debicki, to share what inspired them to become actors:

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Genre Study of the Day:

Now You See It uses clips from Lights Out (and the short it’s based on), Poltergeist and other movies to show what makes a movie scary:

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 30th anniversary of the release of One Crazy Summer. Watch the original trailer, presented by Bobcat Goldthwait, below.

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The Important News

Marvel: Avengers: Infinity War will only be one movie.

Star Wars: ABC is actively exploring ideas for Star Wars TV shows.

Disney: James Ponsoldt is the latest indie filmmaker tapped to direct a family film for the Mouse House.

Harry Potter: The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel will arrive in 2018.

Remakes: Jillian Bell and Channing Tatum will be the leads in the Splash redo. Benedict Cumberbatch will star in a new version of Rogue Male. Rami Malek joined the Papillon remake. Rebel Wilson will star in a Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remake.

Sequels: The Secret Life of Pets 2 was greenlit for a 2018 release.

Box Office: Jason Bourne and Bad Moms both had decent openings.

Video Game Movies: Joe Carnahan is writing an Uncharted movie.

YA Movies: Daisy Ridley will star in Doug Liman’s Chaos Walking adaptation.

True Stories: Mel Gibson and Sean Penn will team up for The Professor and the Madman.

Awards: Jimmy Fallon will host the Golden Globes.

The Videos and Geek Stuff

New Movie Trailers: Dunkirk, I Am Not a Serial Killer, Finding Altamira, Land of Mine, Two Lovers and a Bear, Storks, 24X36: A Movie About Movie Posters and Max Rose.

TV Spots: Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and Florence Foster Jenkins.

Clips: Pete’s Dragon.

Watch: A Blu-ray bonus featurette for The Lobster with Colin Farrell.

See: A list of every song in Suicide Squad.

Watch: The Suicide Squad trailer redone in Lego. And a new Suicide Squad music video.

See: What a Marvel vs. DC superhero mashup movie would look like. And the history of Marvel vs. DC at the box office.

Watch: An honest trailer for Watchmen. And a video of everything wrong with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

See: What Edgar Wright’s Dark Knight trilogy would have looked like. And what Aquaman v Superman would have looked like.

Watch: An Olympics movie supercut.

See: A new Star Wars spaceship from Rogue One.

Watch: A video exploring how Pixar makes us cry.

See: Vin Diesel’s rocket-powered new car for Fast 8.

Watch: A video essay on movies that kill off heroes and other likable characters.

See: Michael Jordan names who should have starred in Space Jam 2.

Watch: Olympic athletes pick their favorite sports movies.

See: The best new movie posters of the week.

Our Features

Monthly Movie Guide: See August’s notable releases and anniversaries above. And why this August will be a great month for movies.

Movie Review: The good and bad about Suicide Squad. And our DC expert’s review of Suicide Squad.

Comic Book Movie Guide: Everything you need to know about The Joker and Harley Quinn. And everything you need to know about Jared Leto’s Joker.

List: 10 Suicide Squad members who should be in the sequel.

Geek Movie Guide: Why a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child movie should wait.

Horror Movie Guide: What to see after you watch Stranger Things.

Classic Movie Guide: When Howard the Duck ruined comic book movies.

Film Festival Guide: See the first wave of Fantastic Fest programming.

R.I.P.: Remembering the reel-important people we lost in July.

Home Viewing: Our guide to everything hitting VOD this week.

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Redone Trailer of the Day:

It’s been a while since we saw a trailer remade with Lego, so here’s one for Suicide Squad (via Geek Tyrant):

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Movie Trilogy Recap of the Day:

With a new Batman movie out this week (sort of), here’s a rap recap of the Dark Knight trilogy:

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Movie Comparison of the Day:

Now it makes sense why Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is bad: Couch Tomato shows how it’s the same movie as Iron Man 2:

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Interactive Movie Promotion of the Day:

Before seeing Kubo and the Two Strings, explore its world with this very cool interactive map:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Billy Bob Thornton, who turns 61 today, made one of his first movie appearances in the 1989 Adam Sandler comedy Going Overboard, pictured below:

Supercut of the Day:

Ranker celebrates the art of door slamming in movies in this noisy supercut:

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Video Essay of the Day:

Jacks Movie Reviews explores the idea of a protagonist or major likelable character dying in a movie in the following spoiler-heavy video essay (via One Perfect Shot):

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Cosplay of the Day:

We’re still catching up with some of our favorite cosplay from Comic-Con, including this great dinosaur Deadpool mashup getup (via Fashionably Geek):

Filmmaker in Focus:

Beyond the Frame spotlights the movies that influenced the work of Wes Anderson side by side with the homage (via One Perfect Shot):

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 10th anniversary of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Watch the original trailer for the Will Ferrell comedy below.

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Imarhan is a crew of young musicians from Tamanrasset in southern Algeria. The band has a direct family relationship with Tuareg rock trailblazers Tinariwen: Not only is one of Tinariwen’s members, Eyadou Ag Leche, a cousin of Imarhan’s frontman, but he also has production and co-writing credits on the younger band’s new album.

Imarhan integrates the hypnotic riffs and relentless percussion of traditional Tuareg music with modern elements to create something fresh, as you can hear on “Tarha Tadagh.”

Set List

• “Tarha Tadagh”

Photo: Brian Lowe/KCRW

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Alternate Dimension Movie of the Day:

Here’s what the Dark Knight movies would look like as directed by Edgar Wright, specifically in the style of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (via Edgar Wright):

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Alternate Timeline Movie of the Day:

Here’s what the VHS box might have looked like if What We Do in the Shadows had come out in the 1980s. See more of Steelberg’s VHS covers, including a new one for Stranger Things, on his Instagram page.

Film History of the Day:

Wired chronicles the history and box office successes of DC and Marvel movies over four decades using stop-motion animation:

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Alternate Movie of the Day:

What if a different DC superhero went after the Man of Steel instead of Batman? How It Should Have Ended presents Aquaman v Superman:

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Fake Movie of the Day:

We’ve had so many movies about manic pixie dream girls that it’s time for Sarcastic Nightmare Downer Girl:

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Reworked Movie of the Day:

CineFix reimagines Meet the Parents as a thriller with Ben Stiller as a villain in this recut trailer:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Tony Bennett, who turns 90 today, with Elke Sommer in the only movie he ever acted in, 1966’s The Oscar:

Supercut of the Day:

With a new Harry Potter book out in stores, here’s a new supercut of all the spells from the movies in alphabetical order (via Geekologie):

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Actor in the Spotlight:

For Fandor Keyframe, Kevin B. Lee looks at Margot Robbie’s evolution as an actress from sex symbol to superstar:

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 15th anniversary of the release of The Princess Diaries. Watch the original trailer for movie, directed by the late Garry Marshall, below.

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Movie Takedown of the Day:

In anticipation of the relesae of Suicide Squad, Honest Trailers watches Watchmen and pulverizes it:

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Fan Theory of the Day:

Also in anticipation of Suicide Squad, the Film Theorists address the fan theory that there are three different Jokers:

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Fan Art of the Day:

Quentin Chaillet created this digital art piece titled Little Batman, showcasing a version of the character antithetical to the one on the big screen lately (via Geek Tyrant):

Movie Scoring Lesson of the Day:

If you want to make animated films like Pixar’s, watch this video on how the studio uses music to play with our emotions (via Sploid):

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Screenwriting Lesson of the Day:

In the second new video essay on the script for American Beauty, Lessons from the Screenplay focuses on the 27 pages director Sam Mendes cut out:

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Movie Editing Lesson of the Day:

CineFix spotlights two brilliant moments in editing, one from Ida and the other from No Country for Old Men, to illustrate the ideas of holding long and cutting short:

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Movie Craft of the Day:

Get a peek at the world of casting in the Academy’s video on David Rubin, who shares the story of discovering Hairspray‘s Nikki Blonsky:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Myrna Loy, who was born on this date in 1905, with William Powell and Skippy the dog (aka Asta) reading their scripts behind the scenes of The Thin Man in 1934:

Cosplay of the Day:

Cosplayer extraordinaire Ryan Wells shows off his costume for the Garthim from The Dark Crystal (via Fashionably Geek):

Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of Doc Hollywood. Watch the original trailer for the Michael J. Fox comedy below.

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