Saturday Night Live’s Please Don’t Destroy Skipping Theaters for Peacock Release

Please Don’t Destroy, the movie from the Saturday Night Live comedy troupe of the same name, won’t be debuting in theaters after all. Instead, the film is set to premiere exclusively on Peacock on November 17th. The film had previously been expected to open in theaters on August 18th. According to Variety, Universal didn’t offer a reason for the shift, though a difficult box office climate for comedies in theatrical release could be a factor, per the report.

The film was written by Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy — the Please Don’t Destroy troupe — and was produced by Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller. Please Don’t Destroy the movie follows three childhood friends who live and work together and when the threesome decides they don’t like their life trajectory, they set off to find a gold treasure that is rumored to be buried in a nearby mountain. However, they discover that finding the treasure is actually the easiest part of their adventure.

Please Don’t Destroy joined Saturday Night Live as writers in Season 47 and have created digital shorts, including viral hits like “Three Sad Virgins” and “Rami Wants a Treat.” Unlike many previously released Saturday Night Live movies, Please Don’t Destroy (the film) isn’t based on a recurring skit, as the members of the troupe generally play themselves in their digital shorts rather than characters as we’ve seen in previous Saturday Night Live films, like Wayne’s World, Coneheads, or MacGruber, the latter of which was the last Saturday Night Live movie to be released over twelve years ago.

Please Don’t Destroy is also not the only Universal comedy to see a release shift. The R-rated Strays, which stars Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx in its voice cast, is moving from June 9th to Please Don’t Destroy‘s August 18th. It will now open alongside DC’s Blue Beetle. Strays is directed by Saturday Night Live alum Paul Briganti. Conan O’Brien, Bowen Yang, and Meg Stalter also star in the film, which is executive produced by Josh Church, M. Riley, Sam Hansen, Michael Sledd, Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy.

Please Don’t Destroy will debut on Peacock on November 17th.

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