'Indie animation' moves from YouTube to the big screen

"The Amazing Digital Circus," a YouTube series that launched in 2023, may sound like the stuff of nightmares. The story takes place in a surreal world that looks like a child’s playroom, albeit one tucked inside an eerily empty office building. Among its main characters are an unfunny jester, a sarcastic rabbit and a ringmaster whose head is a pair of dentures. Adding to the weirdness: It’s animated in a jarring style that recalls the early computer imagery of the 1990s.

"Minions," this ain’t. But that’s exactly why "The Amazing Digital Circus" regularly draws more than 100 million views per episode on YouTube, making it one of the biggest hits within a minitrend known as "indie animation."

"This is essentially the raw, unfiltered vision of the directors and the animators," said Xen Naimushyna, a 17-year-old senior at Locust Valley High School who’s a fan of the genre and a budding animator. Well-funded animation studios like Disney-Pixar and Illumination may put out professional-looking products, Naimushyna said, but indie animation fans are looking for a "heartfelt vibe, rather than something that feels more commercial."

The genre is getting some of its biggest exposure yet this summer. In April, content provider Fathom Entertainment announced that it would screen "The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act" — the final two episodes of the series — in theaters nationwide June 4. Initially planned as a four-day run on 900 screens, the film quickly racked up $5 million in advance ticket sales, a record for Fathom. By early June the run had expanded to 15 days on more than 2,000 screens, with advance sales climbing to $9 million. That’s despite the fact that after the theatrical run, all episodes will be available on both YouTube and Netflix, where the series has already been streaming.

"The research told us it was the right thing to do," Fathom CEO Ray Nutt said of the company’s decision to partner with Glitch Productions, the Australian studio behind "The Amazing Digital Circus." He added: "This is lightning in a bottle as far as I’m concerned." (Fathom, launched in 2004, is owned by the theater chains AMC, Regal and Cinemark.)

The "Digital Circus" finale could also be part of the YouTube-ification of movie theaters. In January, YouTuber Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach released his sci-fi-horror film "Iron Lung" into theaters, leveraging his 38 million subscribers into $51 million in ticket sales. "Obsession," a $148 million hit released in May, was also directed by a YouTuber, Curry Barker. And "Backrooms," a new horror film from the hip studio A24, is inspired by a YouTube series and directed by its 20-year-old creator, Kane Parsons.

"It’s no big secret that people can wait a period of time for whatever the content is to see it on YouTube or see it wherever," Nutt acknowledged. "But you have to find that right content that's going to give somebody the motivation to get up off their couch, to get to a movie theater, to pay for a movie ticket."

Indie animation covers a wide range of styles and subject matter. One of the more popular series, "Hazbin Hotel," takes place in a sleazy district of Hell; its visual aesthetic might be described as alt-rock Disney. "Lackadaisy," a 27-minute short based on a 2006 web comic, centers on cats who run a bootlegging business during Prohibition. The cult series "Bridge Kids" features grotesque teenage misfits with names like Skid and Fugger.

"We’re not partnered with a big studio," said Mike Carfora, a 29-year-old co-creator of "Bridge Kids" who was raised in Glen Cove. (The show’s grubby bridge, where its characters hang out, was partly inspired by a dilapidated greenhouse in the town’s Welwyn Preserve.) Launched as a web series in 2021, "Bridge Kids" initially struggled to find an audience but now pulls in more than 1 million views per episode on YouTube. Carfora and his colleagues use hand-drawn images manipulated with Adobe Animate, he explained, and occasionally hire animator friends for help. The total cost per episode: roughly $4,000.

"Thirty years ago, even 20 years ago, I could make an animation, but how am I going to get people to watch it?" Chris Fedorczak, who teaches animation at Long Island High School of the Arts, said. "I’d have to get my work out there in a physical sense. Whereas now, you can post stuff on YouTube at no cost. You can generate a following and generate income."

(One drawback to that model: Piracy. In the weeks before the release of "The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act," rumors circulated that the two episodes had been leaked online. Nutt, at Fathom, refuted the idea that ticket buyers were asking for refunds in any significant numbers. "If there are refunds out there, I can tell you that there's a whole lot more people that are buying tickets," Nutt said.)

As indie animation makes inroads into the mainstream, the term may become a bone of contention. It "gets stretched really far," Carfora said, noting that "Hazbin Hotel" can be seen on Amazon Prime. "If you're working with the biggest company in the world, I don't think that's independent anymore," he said.

Then again, such partnerships could be "a natural evolution" for the genre, according to Ava Kang, one of Fedorczak’s students.

"I feel like it’s a very interesting phenomenon, seeing these shows that are moving to the theaters and the streaming services," Kang, a 17-year-old junior, said. "Maybe there is a loss of the indie factor through this process. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing."

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com