YouTuber Jake Paul Announces Feature Film Debut
Twitter seems perplexed by the Paul brothers’ ventures once again as the youngest of the two, Jake Paul, has announced he will be starring in his feature film debut, to be distributed and produced by Wonder Street and Mandalay Pictures.
The general public took this about as well as you would expect.
The Paul brothers in recent years have seen a bit of a downward spiral in their public images. Over the past couple of years, Jake Paul came under fire for the promotion and alleged scamming of his fans through forms of cryptocurrency he heavily advocated for and promoted, often without telling them of said prearranged promotions.
However, the announced film seems to have higher stakes and production to it than in Paul’s previous appearances—Mandalay Pictures’ most recent films, Air, was praised by critics due to the performance of its cast, and the collaboration with Paul could have a similar effect on critics if done similarly.
The announcement comes during a time of multiple announcements of YouTuber-led films; in April, YouTubers Mark Fischbach and Seán McLoughlin—often known as Markiplier and Jacksepticeye respectively—announced their involvement in Fischbach’s feature directorial debut, Iron Lung, based on the video game of the same name. A24 recently greenlit a film based on The Backrooms from Kane Parsons, known online as Kane Pixels, as well as acquiring the rights to YouTube duo RackaRacka’s feature film debut Talk to Me. This followed a bidding war between the studio and Universal after the film’s screening at Sundance earlier this year.