SNL’s Please Don’t Destroy Movie Gets Major Update

Please Don’t Destroy, the comedy troupe that has made a name for themselves as part of Saturday Night Live for the past two years, are about to seen on the big screen. The latest SNL movie will not only star the trio, composed of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, but is actually titled after their group as well, and it just got a major update. Per the Motion Picture Association’s latest batch of film ratings, the MPA has confirmed that Please Don’t Destroy (the movie) has been rated….what else, “R.” According to the MPA, the film earned its R rating “for pervasive language, sexual material, some drug material, brief graphic nudity and violence.”

The Please Don’t Destroy trio not only star in the upcoming movie but also wrote the script. A previous report revealed that it centers on three childhood friends who head off to a nearby mountain in search of treasure rumored to be buried there. Naturally some SNL heavy hitters have been recruited to appear in the movie as well with current cast member Bowen Yang set to appear and former series writer Conan O’Brien confirmed. Other cast members set to appear in the film include Meg Statler (Hacks), X Mayo (The Daily Show), and Nichole Sakura (Superstore). Paul Briganti is directing.

Currently, Please Don’t Destroy is scheduled to be released later this year on August 18, opening on the same day as Warner Bros. upcoming Blue Beetlle movie from DC.

Unlike previously released Saturday Night Live movies, Please Don’t Destroy isn’t really based on a recurring skit. Though the three members of the troupe largely play themselves in each of the digital shorts, it’s not like characters such as The Blues Brothers, Wayne’s World, Coneheads, or MacGruber (which was the last SNL movie to be released, over twelve eyars ago).

Statistically speaking, most of the SNL movies have not been successful and are largely defined by being commercial bombs. As of this writing, the original Wayne’s World is both the biggest success at the box office, with over $180 million globally, but also its biggest critical success too. MacGruber on the otherhand was able to not only overcome mixed reviews and major box office disappointment by becoming a cult hit, enough to warrant a Peacock sequel series a decade later, which is proabbly the best you can hope for when the worst possibility is the reputation of 1994’s It’s Pat.