RackaRacka

RackaRacka is an Australian YouTube channel created and run by twin filmmaker brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, based in Los Angeles, California (originally from Adelaide, South Australia).[2] The channel is known for its intense live action horror comedy videos.[3][4][5]

RackaRacka
Danny (right) and Michael Philippou in March 2020
Personal information
Born
Danny Philippou
Michael Philippou

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Occupations
  • Special effects specialists
  • Filmmakers
YouTube information
Also known asRackaRacka
Channel
Years active2013–present
Genres
Subscribers6.7 million[1]
(22 January 2023)
Total views1.15 billion[1]
(22 January 2023)
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers2015
1,000,000 subscribers2015
Last updated: 14 Jul 2022

Between Facebook and YouTube, RackaRacka has over 2 billion views and over 6 million subscribers.[6][7]

Named one of Variety magazine's FameChangers,[8] and ranked fifth on the Australian Financial Review’s Cultural Power List,[9] the brothers have won numerous awards including the Best International Channel Streamy Award, Best Overall at the Online Video Awards and the Australian Academy Award for the Best Web Show.[10]

Their debut feature film Talk to Me premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2023.[11]

History

Danny and Michael began filming their backyard wrestling matches with close friends when they were 11 years old.[12] At the age of 13, they moved on to making a "TV Show" and "movies".[13]

They created "fake fail" videos for Facebook, but a few months later started the YouTube channel RackaRacka.[14] Initially the channel was not monetized, with Danny financing the videos by volunteering for paid medical trials.[15]

The channel's first huge success was Harry Potter vs Star Wars, which attracted 7 million views in a week.[16] This video won in the Best Comedy and Best Overall categories at the 2014 Australian Online Video Awards.[17] In September 2015, the channel won the award for Best International YouTube Channel at the 6th Streamy Awards.[18]

In 2014, Michael and Danny both crewed on the Australian horror film, The Babadook.[19]

On 10 July 2017, Danny and Michael revealed that they moved into a mansion with their close friends, marking the beginning of a series of videos for the channel titled House of Racka, which combined their real-life adventures and special effects skills altogether into a vlog-like series.[20] The House of Racka series became the majority of the channel's uploads for around a year. On 2 April 2018, among complaints of YouTube demonetising the channel, the brothers announced that they were being evicted from their mansion. Many fans thought this meant the end of the channel, as the video contained an emotional tribute to the experiences the twins had in the mansion, in a more sombre mood than they usually projected.[21] This was later proven to be false, however, as the two later revealed that the House of Racka series was the only cancellation to their YouTube careers.[22]

On 25 August 2018, Michael fought on the undercard KSI vs Logan Paul boxing event, where he beat Scarce by TKO.[23] Due to lack of demonetisation on the main RackaRacka channel, on 14 December 2019 the brothers created a new channel called Left on Red, vowing to upload a shorter and possibly more marketable video to the channel daily.[24]

On 16 December 2019, the brothers announced that Michael had been charged by South Australia Police with numerous crimes related to a video uploaded on 16 January 2019, which depicted him driving a heavily modified and watertight car on public roads while completely submerged and breathing partially through a hole in the roof.[25][26] Other claims included that the brothers had been charged for quite a while and were unaware they were being sought by law enforcement; most of them were confirmed when Michael was ordered to appear in court on 14 January 2020.[27]

Film

Talk to Me

In 2020, the twins announced that they would be making their feature-length directorial debut on a horror film titled Talk to Me with Australian production company Causeway Films,[28] which made The Babadook.

The cast includes Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Alexandra Jensen, Otis Dhanji, Zoe Terakes, Chris Alosio, Miranda Otto, Alexandria Steffensen and Marcus Johnson, with the storyline about a young woman who summons dead spirits with a ceramic hand.[29]

Talk to Me sold to numerous international distributors at Cannes in 2022.[30] It had a preview screening at the Adelaide Film Festival on 30 October 2022,[31][32] the closing night of the festival.

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on the 22nd of January 2023.[33] After the premiere spurred a bidding war with Universal and others,[34] A24 acquired the rights to distribute the film in the United States.[35]

It had its European premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 21, 2023.[36][37]

Talk to Me is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on July 28, 2023.[38][39]

Future projects

It was announced that the twins are in talks to direct the new Street Fighter film for Legendary Entertainment.[40]

Filmography

Amateur boxing record

Michael Phillipou

1 fight 1 win 0 losses
By knockout 1 0
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
1 Win 1–0 United States John Scarce TKO 3 (3), 0:24 25 Aug 2018 United Kingdom Manchester Arena, Manchester, England

See also

References
  1. "About Therackaracka". YouTube.
  2. Video on YouTube They moved in 2019.
  3. Gutelle, Sam (4 June 2015). "YouTube Millionaires: For Racka Racka, "The Whole Process Is Chaos"". Tubefilter.
  4. Beckerman, Marty (8 August 2014). "The 'Epic Childhood' Guys Explain Their Crazy Backyard Wrestling Video". MTV.
  5. Yeung, Chantelle (24 September 2015). "The Racka Racka (Australia) talk about their stunt and special effects videos at YouTube FanFest Sydney 2015". Hello Asia!. Archived from the original on 10 July 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  6. "Log into Facebook". Facebook. Retrieved 8 March 2023. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  7. "RackaRacka - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  8. Spangler, Todd (21 June 2016). "Famechangers 2016: Ranking the Top Digital Stars". Variety. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  9. "The 10 most influential people in Australian culture in 2017". Australian Financial Review. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  10. "First Winners Announced At The 7th AACTA Awards Industry Luncheon". www.aacta.org. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  11. Kroll, Justin (24 January 2023). "'Talk To Me' Directing Duo Danny & Michael Philippou Sign With WME Following Film's Midnight Premiere At Sundance". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  12. "The 'Epic Childhood' Guys Explain Their Crazy Backyard Wrestling Video". MTV. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  13. "The 'Epic Childhood' Guys Explain Their Crazy Backyard Wrestling Video". MTV. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  14. "The 'Epic Childhood' Guys Explain Their Crazy Backyard Wrestling Video". MTV. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  15. Going Drink for Drink with RackaRacka | Cold Ones, retrieved 8 March 2023
  16. Galletly, Jessica (4 May 2014). "SA filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou create a YouTube sensation with Harry Potter vs Star Wars". The Advertiser.
  17. Hawker, Philippa (15 October 2014). "Harry Potter vs Star Wars YouTube hit wins Australian Online Video Award for twins". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  18. Grant, Peter (17 September 2015). "RackaRacka Take Home Streamy for Best International Channel!". Blog, BBTV. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  19. The Babadook (2014) - IMDb, retrieved 8 March 2023
  20. "We got a mansion!!!!". YouTube. 10 June 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  21. "The End of RackaRacka *not clickbait*". YouTube. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  22. "Our future ..." YouTube. 10 June 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  23. Goldstein, DG (25 August 2018). "All Results From the KSI vs Logan Paul Undercard Fights". Dexerto. Dexerto LTD. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  24. "Meeting friend's hot girlfriend". YouTube. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  25. "We got ARRESTED. 9 charges pending ..." YouTube. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  26. "Driving world's first UNDERWATER CAR ft. Jackson O'doherty". YouTube. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  27. "YouTube prankster in court for driving car filled with water to Adelaide bottle shop". ABC. Adelaide, AU. 15 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  28. "The best news of my life !! *emotional*". YouTube. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  29. Debelle, Penelope (7 October 2022). "The state of science fiction". InDaily . Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  30. Tabbara2022-07-05T11:45:00+01:00, Mona. "Bankside Films scores slew of deals on Cannes slate (exclusive)". Screen. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  31. Smith, Matthew (7 October 2022). "RackaRacka brothers to release debut film Talk to Me at Adelaide Film Festival". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  32. "First look at Talk to Me, upcoming horror feature by Youtube sensation RackaRacka". Adelaide Film Festival. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  33. "Program Guide | Sundance Film Festival". festival.sundance.org. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  34. D'Alessandro, Anthony (7 March 2023). "A24 Dates Three For Summer: 'You Hurt My Feelings', 'Past Lives' & 'Talk To Me'". Deadline. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  35. Aaron Couch (24 January 2023). "A24 Nabbing Sundance Horror Movie 'Talk to Me'". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  36. jkeast (15 January 2023). "'Talk to Me', 'Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black)' off to Berlin". IF Magazine. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  37. "Talk to Me". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  38. Talk to Me, retrieved 8 March 2023
  39. D'Alessandro, Anthony (7 March 2023). "A24 Dates Three For Summer: 'You Hurt My Feelings', 'Past Lives' & 'Talk To Me'". Deadline. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  40. Kit, Borys (27 April 2023). "'Street Fighter' Movie Lands 'Talk to Me' Filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
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