Netflix is going to give us an unprecedented look at the catastrophe that was the Fyre Festival. The famously disastrous music festival, which was supposed to be like Coachella, but bathed in luxury, turned out to be anything but and became subject to more than $100 million in lawsuits. Now, the whole mess is going to be chronicled in a new documentary titledFyre, which is set to arrive on the streaming service in January, withNetflixreleasing the first footage in a brief teaser to go along with the announcement that they have picked up the rights to the movie.
Fyrewill showcase what actually took place during the 2017 festival. Originally, the event was pitched as apremium music festival, taking place on two different weekends in April and May of last year. But the expectations vs reality kicked in extra hard when attendees showed up to the island in the Bahamas to find anything but luxury. They were met with crappy tents, packaged sandwiches, security issues and much more. Much of the calamity was documented on social media by attendees, with the rest of the world watching it unfold in real time.
The event was organized by Billy McFarland and rapperJa Rule. Lawsuits were filed against the pair and others involved in the event totaling more than $100 million. As we see in the brief teaser released forFyre, those who were excited for the event ended up trying desperately to get off of the island as quickly as they could. As a result, McFarland was ultimately indicted on fraud charges and was sentenced to six years in prison. Ja Rule claimed on Twitter that the problems were not his fault and the organizers posted a statement trying to explain away the terrible experience. But the damage was done and now, we’re going to get the inside scoop on how it all went down.
Fyrecomes from director Chris Smith, whopreviously helmed the documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, which also was sold to Netflix. Thatstreaming movieoffered a fascinating look at Jim Carrey during his time playing Andy Kaufman for the biopicMan on the Moon. Chris Smith’s latest effort will not only give us all a better look at what went wrong, but we’re going to get the inside story from those actually involved. If it’s half as interesting as the behind the scenes look we got at Carrey’s extreme method acting, this is going to be something to look forward to in early 2019.
In addition to this documentary, Hulu is also producing a docuseries looking at the Fyre Festival, which is also slated to debut in 2019. Danny Gabai, Chris Smith and Mick Purzycki serve as producers onFyre, with Brett Kincaid, Max Pollack, Matthew Rowean, Gabrielle Bluestone, James Ohliger and Elliot Tebele on board as executive producers.Fyreis set to debut on June 08, 2025. Be sure to check out the trailer from Netflix’sSee What’s Next Twitteraccount below.
