When you think of the 90s, who do you think of? You could think of Nirvana, the band that pioneered the grunge revolution in the early ’90s. If there were one band that popped into my head when asked this question, it would have to be Green Day. Launching punk rock into the mainstream in 1994, Green Day is undoubtedly one of the greatest, most important bands of all time.
To celebrate their success and commemorate their rise to fame, Green Day just announced their new movie, New Year’s Rev. According to HollywoodReporter.com, “The film is based on Green Day’s real-life adventures while living in a van before the success of Dookie, their 1994 Grammy-winning major label debut album that has since been certified as double-diamond.” With the first trailer just released on September 5th, fans are ecstatic to see the trio’s story projected on the big screen. Some of the cast members include Mason Thames, McKenna Grace, Fred Armisen, and Sean Gunn. While a general release date for the public has not been announced yet, New Year’s Rev will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 12, 2025, in Canada.
When asked about his desire to tell this story through a screenplay, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong responded, saying, “I got to know Lee (director) when we did the [2016] movie Ordinary World. I was doing some more acting at the time, and he hired me to be the main character. It was super low-budget and just a really great experience. We really had good chemistry, so he was obvious when I wanted to make this film.” He expanded on this by expressing his ideas from several years ago. “I’ve always wanted to do a Green Day film. God, ever since the beginning, just all my heroes have always done films, whether it was Rock ‘n’ Roll High School by the Ramones or A Hard Day’s Night, the Who’s Quadrophenia. I wanted just to do the same thing.”
Armstrong went on to describe his experience of the movie’s plot, “Van days rule. You will drive all night on no sleep, then play a show for 10 kids in a basement of a friend of a friend’s house, 50 miles east of anywhere you’ve ever heard of. But you’ll do it again the next day, and the one after that. Because you’re doing it with your bandmates, who become your family, and it’s unlike anything you’ve ever known. It’s electric.” The band tried to make the theme of passion and chasing a dream as prevalent as possible. It’s their “love letter to road trip movies, ’90s nostalgia, and chasing the dream no matter how ridiculous it gets.” In other news for the movie, the band has unveiled a sneak peek of the tracklist. The only confirmed songs are “Holiday” and “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams”, but with an all-Green Day tracklist, more surprises are sure to come.
With Green Day just coming off a multi-continental tour, hype for the band is at an all-time high right now. Even if you don’t listen to their music, New Year’s Rev could be a new favorite road trip style movie. It goes without saying that everyone is excited about the band’s latest release!
