Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

In 2008, Toronto musicians Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol form Nirvanna the Band in the hopes of playing a show at the Rivoli. Seventeen years later, they have still not secured a show, with their schemes repeatedly failing. Matt proposes a publicity stunt whereby they skydive off the CN Tower into the SkyDome during a Blue Jays game. The attempt fails when the SkyDome roof closes during their dive, deepening Jay's frustrations and disillusionment with Matt's schemes. While Matt becomes convinced they can persuade the Rivoli by pretending to be time travelers, Jay secretly books an open mic slot in Ottawa. Matt modifies their RV with fake time travel equipment inspired by Back to the Future, but accidentally spills his last bottle of Orbitz on it. The next morning, Jay attempts to leave for Ottawa in the RV, learning too late Matt is still inside, and the two are unexpectedly transported to 2008. Realizing that the Orbitz caused the time machine to work, they attempt to obtain another bottle from their younger selves' apartment. They narrowly avoid being discovered, and an interaction between the younger Jay and the older Matt makes the older Jay reconsider leaving the band. When he confesses to his plan to go solo, Matt, hurt, alters their younger selves' planning whiteboard to instruct them not to play the Rivoli. They return to 2025, where Jay has become a successful musician while Matt is a drummer in a Jay McCarrol cover band. Matt confronts Jay at a concert, but Jay denies having any knowledge of the time machine. Jay sneaks out and smashes the last bottle of Orbitz. Without Matt, Jay finds celebrity life hollow and lonely. In an attempt to make friends with his new band, he accidentally shoots and kills one of them. Now a fugitive, Jay returns to Matt, still claiming to be the alternate version of himself. He offers to help repair the time machine, secretly intending only to use it to reverse the events of his murder. Without Orbitz, Matt recalls that lightning struck the CN Tower the night their skydiving plan failed. They attempt to power the RV's time circuits using a cable stretched from the top of the CN Tower connected to a power box at an intersection. As the authorities pursue Jay, the cable disconnects from the tower, forcing Matt to reconnect it, but the cable is too short to connect to the power box on the street. As Matt tries to plug it back in, he sees the news that Jay has murdered someone. He completes the circuit using his body, sacrificing himself to power the time machine. Jay travels back to 2008 and alters Matt's whiteboard message to encourage their younger selves to play the Rivoli, repairing the timeline. In the present, Matt, with no memory of the other timeline's events, once again proposes the skydive. Jay suggests beginning the plan earlier to avoid complications. ==Cast==

Most of the cast portray fictionalised versions of themselves: • Matt Johnson • Jay McCarrol • Jared Raab • Ben Petrie • Ethan Eng • Michael Scott • Reid Janisse A number of real-world figures appear as themselves. Mitch DeRosier, Steve Hamelin, Luke Lalonde, and Maddy Wilde of the Born Ruffians portray Jay's alternate timeline band. Radio hosts Roz Weston and Mocha Frap are depicted interviewing Jay on The Roz & Mocha Show, while Anthony Fantano reviews Jay's album on his YouTube channel. Camera operators Jared Raab, Luca Tarantini, and Nikolay Michaylov make uncredited onscreen appearances as themselves. The film also incorporates archival footage of James Corden, Ellen DeGeneres, Will Smith, and Canadian newscaster Marcia MacMillan. ==Production==

Development From 2007 to 2009, Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol co-wrote and independently produced the web series Nirvana the Band the Show, in which fictionalised versions of themselves go to extreme lengths to book their band a gig at the Rivoli in Toronto. Johnson pitched a feature film to Telefilm as early as 2012. A television adaptation, Nirvanna the Band the Show, aired on Viceland for two seasons from 2017 to 2018. BlackBerry's success helped the film secure funding from Telefilm, and in May 2023, it was reported that it would be his next project. In October 2023, Johnson said on The Empire Film Podcast that he had planned to film in the UK but that production had instead started in the United States. The original version, inspired by A Confederacy of Dunces, featured Matt and Jay in the RV on a road trip across the US meeting people from different cultures, similar to The Trip (2010). Upon reviewing the footage, Johnson and McCarrol realised that the storyline lacked the scope necessary for a feature film. Filming were unknowingly captured in a CP24 news report. Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie was shot over 200 days, with a crew of between four and eight people. They expected the security staff to refuse them access, and had already shot an alternate scene in which, rather than skydiving, Jay trespasses into the SkyDome dressed as the Blue Jays mascot. McCarrol was arrested whilst filming the mascot sequence. According to Johnson, "what you're seeing is literally what's happening, apart from us at the very last second jumping off the tower". were filmed without permits. In May 2024, amid the escalating Drake–Kendrick Lamar feud, a shooting took place at the Bridle Path mansion of musician Drake. The film crew were recording a scene with presenters Roz Weston and Mocha Frap, The scene in which Matt parachutes onto the streetcar was filmed on the same day as a Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert in November 2024. The sequences featuring the 2008 versions of Matt and Jay incorporate unused footage from the web series, and were written by editors Curt Lobb and Robert Upchurch after reviewing hundreds of hours of raw footage. Post-production In February 2026, Johnson said the film was recut twice—following its world premiere and following its premiere at TIFF—based on audience reaction, and that "there is an outside chance that the Blu-ray and digital release will be different from the theatrical version. It's kind of a major change, too—we'll see if I get away with it." ==Release ==

On March 9, 2025, Nirvanna the Band the Show premiered at the 2025 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival. Later that month, Neon acquired United States distribution rights. It had its Canadian premiere in the Midnight Madness program at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award, Midnight Madness. The film had a limited release on February 13, 2026. It opened on 365 screens and was projected to make $1.4 million for the 4-day frame. United States distributor Neon released a poster for the film which parodies a poster for the IMAX release of Marty Supreme (2025). A24, Marty Supreme's distributor, accidentally cc'd an email containing the poster to members of the Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie production team. The parody poster was intended to release at the exact same time as Marty Supreme's poster, but it was released three hours later due to a mix-up with time zones. == Reception ==

Rachel Ho of Exclaim! wrote that "Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is quintessential Canadiana — made by Canadians, for Canadians. In a time when our country feels more divided than ever, Johnson offers us a reminder: although flawed in a multitude of ways, just like Matt and Jay, our potential as a nation remains. The answer to Canada's problems isn't going back to the good ol' days; it's standing on guard for thee today — or at least standing on guard at a street corner when a stranger asks you to watch over an electrical box that they're clearly misusing." For That Shelf, Courtney Small wrote that "for all its seemingly scattered ideas, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is rather meticulous in its construction. It works quite well as a time-travel film, on par with recent time spanning comedies such as Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, getting plenty of milage out of conventional tropes including attempting to avoid their younger selves, and as a pop culture driven comedy." The film was named in the Toronto International Film Festival's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2025. Awards == References ==