Screen Junkies
Screen Junkies is an American YouTube channel for movie and television fans, best known as the home of the satirical series Honest Trailers, in which official trailer footage is re-edited with tongue-in-cheek narration that points out a film's flaws and clichés. The channel was created by Break Media in 2008, passed to Defy Media in 2013, and has been owned by Fandom since July 2018.1 • 2
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | ScreenJunkies.com launched as a text site in late 2008; the YouTube channel was created on October 3, 20082 |
| Signature series | Honest Trailers, piloted on February 13, 2012 with a parody of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace3 |
| Ownership history | Break Media (2008); Defy Media (2013); Fandom (from July 2, 2018)2 • 1 |
| Recognition | Honest Trailers is a two-time Emmy-nominated series1 |
| Audience at acquisition | More than eight million subscribers and over two billion views across its channels (July 2018)1 |
| Audience in 2026 | Over 6.7 million subscribers, 3 billion views, and 1,663 videos, with the most recent upload on December 3, 20254 |
| Narrator | Jon Bailey, whose voice persona is known as Epic Voice Guy4 • 2 |
Origins
Screen Junkies began as a text-based website, ScreenJunkies.com, in late 2008, carrying articles, news, recaps, and reviews of movies, television, and pop culture. It was founded and owned by Break Media, the company behind Break.com, and was designed to target a young male demographic. The main YouTube channel was created on October 3, 2008, but did not begin uploading content until 2011.2
In October 2013, Break Media merged with Alloy Digital to form Defy Media, and Screen Junkies became a Defy Media brand with close ties to other Defy properties such as Smosh Games and Clevver, which shared office space.2
Honest Trailers
The series that defined the channel premiered on February 13, 2012, with an episode mocking the 3D re-release of The Phantom Menace. In its first two years that video drew over 5.7 million views and more than 6,500 comments.3 According to the channel's own fan wiki, Honest Trailers emerged as a success almost by accident after that single video, within a slate of playful movie-themed content meant to tap into the zeitgeist.2
The format re-cuts a film's official preview footage with new narration that describes the movie bluntly rather than persuasively. Early episodes spread quickly: an Honest Trailer for Twilight (2008) posted on March 22, 2012 gained upwards of 9.1 million views and over 10,800 comments within two years, and one for Transformers (2007) drew over 8.9 million views in the same period.3 The narration is performed by voice actor Jon Bailey, whose persona, Epic Voice Guy, is treated in the series as a fictional character with a family, history, and personality distinct from Bailey himself.4 • 2
Mainstream press covered the series as a form of pop-culture criticism. TIME listed Screen Junkies among the best YouTube channels to watch, describing Honest Trailers as "blistering mock-videos that satirize the trailer industry while serving up bona fide criticism."5 Individual episodes received their own coverage, such as the Honest Trailers for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, whose tagline "Fans v Batman v Superman v critics v other fans v executives v Zack Snyder v expectations" TIME called a perfect summary of the film's reception.6 The most well-known episode, per the channel wiki, is the Honest Trailer for Deadpool, which included a surprise appearance from Ryan Reynolds in character.2
Sale to Fandom
On July 2, 2018, Fandom, the entertainment destination then operated by Wikia, Inc., announced it had completed an acquisition of Screen Junkies and its entities, purchasing the brand from Defy Media. At that point Screen Junkies' channels had more than eight million subscribers and over two billion views, and the press release described the brand as the leading YouTube channel for movie and television fans, delivering pop culture parody, original series, entertainment news, and commentary on the Screen Junkies and Screen Junkies News channels.1 Fandom's Chief Content Officer Dorth Raphaely framed the purchase as a way to connect fans with their fandoms, and Screen Junkies General Manager Michael Chiang cited growth opportunity under Fandom's reach.1
The team at the time of the sale included Dan Murrell, Spencer Gilbert, Roth Cornet, and Joe Starr, whom Fandom's VP of Video Strategy and Operations Neha Tiwari credited with the brand's voice over its first seven years as a video brand.7
Other programming and later years
Beyond Honest Trailers, the channel produced formats such as Movie Fights and TV Fights, in which personalities debate topics like the best fantasy films or the legacy of Star Wars, and Honest Interviews featuring actors such as Paul Rudd and the cast of Critical Role.4 The main channel is closely associated with sister channels, including Fandom Entertainment and Fandom Games; some shows that ended on the main channel, such as Honest Trailers Commentaries and TV Fights, moved to the Screen Junkies News channel.2 • 8
Channel statistics show a different scale from the 2018 peak figures. As of 2026, the channel reports over 6.7 million subscribers and 3 billion views across 1,663 videos, with its most recent upload on December 3, 2025.4 A third-party tracker places it among the top 1,000 United States YouTube channels at about 6.8 million subscribers in 2026.9 The subscriber count at acquisition (more than eight million across its channels) and the 2026 main-channel figure are not directly comparable, since the 2018 number covered multiple channels, but both are reported here as their sources state them.1 • 4
Reception and criticism
Academic and fan commentary has treated Honest Trailers as part of a broader culture of fan-made parody and commentary. A Lancaster University doctoral thesis on distracted spectatorship and franchise films uses Screen Junkies' Honest Trailer videos as a case study of how secondary texts frame viewers' engagement with franchises.10 A dissertation on special effects notes that the producers devoted one episode, "The Making of Honest Trailers," to demystifying their own demystifying practices.11 Some film writers have pushed back on the parody framing: a University of Florida student publication argued that the creators' claim of offering mere parody of film criticism became harder to accept over time.12
References
- FANDOM Acquires Screen Junkies, PR Newswire (July 2, 2018)
- Screen Junkies, Honest Trailers Wikia
- Screen Junkies, Know Your Meme
- Screen Junkies YouTube Channel Analytics, SubSub
- The 15 Best YouTube Channels to Watch Right Now, TIME
- The Honest Trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, TIME
- Screen Junkies Becomes Part of FANDOM, Fandom
- Screen Junkies, Wikitubia
- Screen Junkies channel profile, Inside Créateurs
- Distracted Spectatorship, the Cinematic Experience and Franchise Films (PhD thesis, Lancaster University)
- The Special Effect (dissertation, University of Göttingen)
- Entertainment section, The Tartan (April 17, 2020)
Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Comedy, drama, and general-genre web series › Premiered 1999 to 2016
Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026
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