Project X (2012) on Netflix
Costa and J.B. throw a birthday party for their friend Thomas Kub while his parents are away, hoping to raise their standing at Pasadena's high school. A classmate films the night.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.7/10261,939 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes29%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Pasadena, Thomas Kub turns seventeen, and his friends Costa and J.B. use the weekend his parents are away to throw a party meant to lift the three of them out of obscurity at school. Thomas's parents warn him to keep the guest list small and to leave his father's Mercedes-Benz alone. Thomas would rather not host at all, but Costa hires Dax, a fellow student, to film the night, and the boys advertise the party around school. Thomas asks Kirby, the friend who is fond of him, and Alexis, a popular classmate he is drawn to. Shopping for supplies, they meet an actor and college baseball star who already knows about the party. The boys buy marijuana from a dealer called T-Rick, and Costa takes a lawn gnome from the man's yard as a mascot.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Project X (2012)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Copycat parties followed the film: in Houston 13 teenagers were arrested after causing up to $100,000 of damage to an empty home and told police the film had inspired them, and a second Houston party of 500 to 1,000 guests ended with one person dead after an attendee started firing a gun.
- In September 2012 a Facebook-invited party in the Dutch town of Haren, referencing the film and its slogan on T-shirts, spiraled out of control and caused an estimated €1 million ($1.32 million) in damage.
- Writer Michael Bacall developed party stories he had been told into an outline in a single night, aiming for the "gnarliest high school party of all time", although he confessed "I was a nerd in high school so I never did anything like what's in the movie".
- It has been widely speculated that the plot was loosely based on an infamous party thrown by a 16-year-old in Australia in 2008, a clandestine, out-of-control event with hundreds of gatecrashers and widespread chaos, although no writer or producer ever confirmed or denied it.
- Filming took place over 25 nights on the Warner Ranch in Burbank, California, where the set contained a faux residential area; the house belonging to Thomas stood directly opposite the house used by Danny Glover's character Roger Murtaugh in the 1987 film Lethal Weapon.
- Project X was listed as the number 1 most pirated film of 2012 on BitTorrent, with approximately 8.7 million downloads.
- Actors were required to provide videos of themselves telling embarrassing or funny stories, or dancing, and traits of those selected were written into their parts, with several characters ending up taking the actors' own names.
