Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is a 2025 Canadian comedy film directed by Matt Johnson and written by Johnson and Jay McCarrol. It is based on their 2007âÂÂ2009 web series Nirvana the Band the Show and its 2017âÂÂ2018 television adaptation Nirvanna the Band the Show.
Johnson and McCarrol star as fictionalised versions of themselves in a band called Nirvanna the Band as they attempt to book a gig at the Rivoli, Toronto,. A new plan accidentally sends Matt and Jay back in time to 2008.
The film premiered at the 2025 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on March 9, 2025, before being theatrically released in Canada and the United States on February 13, 2026. It received acclaim.
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 dubbed the Seventh Inning Skydive, where the pair skydive off the CN Tower into the SkyDome during a Blue Jays game to promote the band. The attempt fails when the SkyDome roof closes during their dive, deepening Jay's frustrations and disillusionment with Matt's schemes.
Jay secretly books an open mic slot in Ottawa, while Matt becomes convinced they can persuade the Rivoli by pretending to be time travelers. He modifies the 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 selvesâ apartment. Matt and Jay narrowly avoid being discovered, and an interaction between the younger Jay and the older Matt makes the older Jay reconsider leaving the band. He confesses to his initial plan to go solo, so a hurt Matt alters the planning whiteboard of their younger selves to instruct them not to play the Rivoli. They return to 2025, where Jay has become an extremely 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. Afterwards, 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 accidental 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 top of the tower, forcing Matt to reconnect it. The cable is then too short to connect to the power box on the other end. As Matt tries to plug it back in, he sees the news that Jay has murdered someone. He ultimately completes the circuit using his body, sacrificing himself to power the time machine.
Jay, seeing Matt's sacrifice, travels back to 2008, and alters Matt's previous message to encourage their younger selves to play the Rivoli, repairing the timeline. In the present, Matt, with no memory of the previous timeline's events, once again proposes the Seventh Inning Skydive. Jay suggests beginning the plan earlier to avoid complications.
Most of the cast portray fictionalised versions of themselves:
Additionally, a number of real-world figures appear as themselves. Mitch DeRosier, Steve Hamelin, Luke Lalonde, and Maddy Wilde of the Born Ruffians appear as Jay's alternate timeline band. Roz Weston and Mocha Frap appear as themselves interviewing Jay on The Roz & Mocha Show. Anthony Fantano appears as himself reviewing Jay's album on his YouTube channel. The film also features archival footage of James Corden, Ellen DeGeneres, Will Smith, and Canadian newscaster Marcia MacMillan.
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. A third season was not released due to Viceland's discontinuation.
Johnson directed the 2023 film BlackBerry with the aim of securing the third season's release. When this did not eventuate, he pivoted to developing a Nirvanna the Band the Show feature film. BlackBerry<nowiki/>'s success helped the film secure funding from Telefilm, and in May 2023, it was reported that it would be his next project. Johnson wanted the film to be accessible to audiences who weren't familiar with the prior series, and intends to release the third season of the television show after the film's release "if there's enough interest".
In October 2023, Johnson stated on the Empire Magazine Podcast that he had initially planned to film in the UK but that production had instead got underway 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 â a bit like The Trip". Upon reviewing the footage, Johnson and McCarrol realised that the storyline lacked the scope necessary for a feature film. McCarrol's pitch that the film should "parody the biggest movies of all time", and the existence of unused footage from the original web series featuring a younger Johnson and McCarrol led to the development of a time travel storyline inspired by Back to the Future (1985).
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie uses audiovisual material from Back to the Future without permission from copyright holders; it is legally considered a parody and thus protected under the concept of fair use in United States copyright law.
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie was shot over the course of over 200 days, with a crew of between four and eight people. As with the television series, exterior scenes were often shot in public without permits and involved unsuspecting members of the public, in the style of a hidden camera show. The film's storyline was developed during filming based on these encounters. Johnson and McCarrol's dialogue was often improvised.
The scenes involving the CN Tower were filmed without permits. As early as February 2017, Johnson and McCarrol discussed a potential episode of the television series where Matt and Jay "fake a terrorist attack on top of the CN tower and try to make headlines." Johnson and McCarrol expected the CN Tower security staff to refuse them access, and had already shot an alternate scene where, rather than skydiving, Jay trespasses into the SkyDome dressed as the Blue Jays mascot. McCarrol was arrested whilst filming the mascot sequence. Part of the scene on the CN Tower's ledge was shot by a GoPro on the helmet of an oblivious tour guide. Johnson stated: "We're getting this guy to look and move exactly where we need him to in order to create the beats of that sequence without him even realizing he's doing it, with the real crazy trick being that we leave with the footage." According to Johnson, "what youâÂÂre seeing is literally whatâÂÂs happening, apart from us at the very last second jumping off the tower."
In May 2024, amid the then-escalating DrakeâÂÂKendrick Lamar feud, a shooting took place at the Bridle Path mansion of musician Drake. Upon hearing the news of the shooting, the film crew went to the scene and captured footage of McCarrol running away from the residence amid the police's investigation. News coverage of the event was also used in the film; a police officer's statement about the shooting was recontextualised as a statement about Jay's shooting.
Jay's live performance of "Never Come Down" was filmed at a concert by Canadian band Arkells. Through a favour to cinematographer Jared RaabâÂÂwho shot some of Arkells's music videosâÂÂthe band allowed McCarrol to perform on stage for a few minutes.
The scene where Matt parachutes onto the streetcar was filmed on the same day as a Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert in November 2024. Johnson stated: "Planning it the same day as a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto means that there's so much chaos in the city that whatever we're doing is not going to compare." The scene where Matt and Jay watch The Hangover was filmed at the Paradise Theatre, with Nirvanna the Band the Show fans as extras.
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. The 2008 apartment was recreated on a soundstage.
In February 2026, Johnson stated the film was recut twiceâÂÂfollowing its world premiere and following its premiere at TIFFâÂÂbased on audience reaction, and that "there is an outside chance that the Blu-ray and digital release will be different from the theatrical version. ItâÂÂs kind of a major change, tooâÂÂweâÂÂll see if I get away with it."
On March 9, 2025, the film 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 was the winner of the . 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<nowiki/>'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<nowiki/>'s poster, but it was released three hours later due to a mix-up with time zones. Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie was released on digital platforms on March 24, 2026 and is set to be released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 26, 2026.
Rachel Ho of Exclaim! wrote that "Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is quintessential Canadiana â 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 â 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.