‘Skibidi Toilet:’ If you don’t know what it is, you will

By CNN Newsource

Published July 25, 2024 8:12 AM

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — “Skibidi Toilet” is already an internet sensation and now its about to get even more exposure.

The YouTube series, created by animator Alexey Gerasimov, is an unusual worldwide hit with more than 17 billion views. It features human-headed toilets engaged in a war with humanoids in a cinema style known as machinima.

“Skibidi Toilet” is also controversial because some parents have worried its potty humor wrapped in elements of horror and violence aren’t appropriate for kids who have become diehard fans of the viral series. (Think an older “Baby Shark” crossed with dystopia and a dash of Stephen King.)

But that’s not preventing “Skibidi” from being developed for TV and film treatment by director Michael Bay and former Paramount Pictures president Adam Goodman, according to a report by Variety.

“We are absolutely in talks right now, both on the television side and the earliest conversations right now on the film side,” Goodman told the publication. “But it’s not a be-all, end-all for us.”

The series began as shorts by a then 23-year-old Gerasimov, who uploaded the first video in February 2023. A native of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Gerasimov is working with Bay and Goodman’s independent studio named Invisible Narratives.

Bay, a filmmaker who is best known for his action work including the “Transformers” film franchise, talked to the Washington Post about working with the newcomer.

“I’ve always been a director that believes in taking risks,” Bay told The Post. “Audiences yearn for fresh, new ideas. With ‘Skibidi,’ it’s a new world of what the younger generation is watching, and I’m taking it very seriously.”

It’s become so quickly ubiquitous among young people, “Skibidi” is now a slang filler word, there is fanfiction, unofficial merchandise and series-inspired games hosted on Roblox.

Goodman, whose resume includes the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” reboot, “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” and the “SpongeBob SquarePants” series, told the Post, “I don’t think that there’s ever been anything that we’ve been involved with that mirrors the growth of [‘Skibidi Toilet’].”

A lot of parents would likely agree.