To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Josie and the Pussycats, Super Yaki has released a new collection of merch celebrating the cult classic, which hit theaters in April 2001. Included in the line are t-shirts, stickers, and hats, celebrating Josie and the Pussycats (the band), DuJour (the in-universe, fictional boy band who will return in a Robot Chicken special next month), and other in-jokes from the movie. T-shirts and stickers including phrases like “Beware of the music,” “Honk if you love the Pussycats,” and “Josie and the Pussycats is the best movie ever, join the army” are available, marking one of the largest merch collections ever put together for the movie, which was a box office bomb when it was released.
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In the 20 years since Josie and the Pussycats was released, the movie has become a cult classic, with a vocal fan base that drove special screenings, a vinyl release of the soundtrack, and an upcoming book. Earlier this month, Mondo released a line of t-shirts and merch tying into the film. Both Mondo and Super Yaki have a history with the movie; it was Mondo who spearheaded the vinyl release, and staged a reunion concert to celebrate it, four years ago. Super Yaki had a holiday ornament for sale last year with the slogan “DuJour means family” on it.
You can see the Super Yaki “Best Movie Ever” collection here.
Directed by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, Josie and the Pussycats tells an updated story (for 2001, of course) of the Archie Comics characters, who were at that point best known to mainstream audiences for a Hanna-Barbera animated series that ran for two seasons, the second being retitled Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space. In the movie, following the sudden death of the most popular boy band in the country, their record label picks the all-girl pop-punk band The Pussycats to step up as their replacements. It isn’t long before the band discovers that not everything is as it seems, and that they are being manipulated into playing a role in a larger conspiracy against the youth of America.
Earlier this month, Universal celebrated the 20th anniversary of the film’s theatrical release with a social media takeover that included a video reunion of the three main stars.
Elfont and Kaplan made the movie coming off the hit Can’t Hardly Wait, and the movie starred Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson as the band, along with Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, Gabriel Mann, Paulo Costanzo, and Missi Pyle in key roles.
You can watch Josie and the Pussycats on HBO Max now.
