The Year in Review: 2024
By: Andrew Bermudez
(Mustache Maniacs Film Co. Headquarters; December 31, 2024)
And that's a wrap! Twenty Years Young has officially come to a close. With so many new projects that were released this year, it can be hard to keep track of everything, so let's take a look back at everything that happened in the past year.
The year began strong with the release of not one, but two new films! New Year's Day kicked off the celebration with The Legacy of Twenty Years Young, a tribute film that recapped the past twenty years' worth of lore for the cinematic universe. And if that wasn't enough, Agent: Thorgood continued that story a week later on January 7! This film finally concludes the plot thread first established in Solarum ten years ago, as well as sets up the next chapter of the cinematic universe for years to come! While there were some additional moments that didn't make the film's final cut, that just meant that this film was followed up by the year's first video in a collection of long promised and long overdue behind the scenes content! In addition to showcasing this film's deleted scene, other videos showcased a deleted scene from Hunted: A (Not) Bigfoot Story and some artwork and special effects from Attack of the Fifty-Foot Hamster. Behind the scenes, things were just as busy, as the affiliate network coordinated to complete all of the projects that were scheduled for release this year.
In a move to continue to diversify our means of revenue, the online shop was expanded and re-branded as its own network! Now called Mustache Maniacs Merchandise Market, the store expanded with new shirt designs (including the one featured here), collectibles, new soundtracks, and a means for Mustache Maniacs Film Co. fans to finally purchase physical copies of our media, especially music albums. The shop is split over Teepublic (for shirts and artwork), Wix (for digital music), and eBay (for physical collectibles), but is still contained under this new branding umbrella.
Just in time for Easter, the film Com 50-3: Raid on Central Island was finally re-released online in a brand-new cut! But that's not all that happened this month.
April Fools! That film, Atlanta Nights, turned out to be an honest-to-God AI written, so-bad-it's-good, engineered cult film. Needless to say, this film is all of the proof that we need to show that AI is NOT capable of replacing humans in the creative business. On the contrary, we've outlined our very restrictive rules regarding AI and how we're allowed to use it in the future. Essentially, it boils down to AI only being allowed as an assistant to help in the outlining process, helping out in performing purely mechanical tasks, resolving last-minute emergencies, or for making April Fool's Day jokes.
The month of May started off with the release of the failed THAC XVI entry, The Bartender's Tale. Tied directly to the film Pharaoh's Quest: The Curse of Amset-Ra, this short film helped to expand that film's story and context, as well as give some character to the bartender Amir Samara, who was otherwise just a background character from that film. In this way, this film acted as a tribute to the unsung heroes of the cinematic universe and that even a blank face that appears for a few seconds in the background can have a unique story to tell.
In addition to this, the special editions for both Kilroy Was Here! and Indiana Jones and the Heart of the Dragon were released, marking the first time that the former title has ever been released online. This also means that the entire trio of Cornerstone Thespian Society plays that were co-produced by Mustache Maniacs Film Co. are now available online for viewing. Speaking of which, this month also saw the reimagining and release of the infamous Cornerstone Thespian Society t-shirt design, which is now available to purchase through our online shop.
The highlight for June was undoubtedly the early run for BRAWL 2024, which resulted in the release of the film True Love's Course. Starting out with the name Basking in Fields of Green, this film is our first-ever serious romance film that focuses more on understanding and empathy than just love. It went through a wild development period that saw the film change its name and several voice actors compete for the film's three roles. However, the film has since received rave reviews, thus sending off the Cancelled Film Revival project on a strong note.
June also saw the return of Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Leopard's Treasure, the first narrative film that we've ever released. This also brought along some behind the scenes material related to Gone Ice Fishin', An Afternoon at the Zoo, Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Leopard's Treasure, and Night Guard. Also announced this month was the space-faring film Galactic Convoy, which was originally announced to be an entry for Universe & Beyond but ended up being delayed to July. Speaking of which...
July kicked off with the return of our first-ever film, Trip to LEGOLAND! This version of the film condensed the original film by removing the filler content and streamlining the flow of events. Compared to its original re-release back in 2014, this film has seen a much higher retention rate this time around, as a larger fanbase of the themed entertainment industry has now seen the film as a snapshot of LEGOLAND California as it appeared in 2004.
However, the real news for July was the release of Mustache Maniacs Film Co.'s first true Sci-Fi film, Galactic Convoy! The film adapts LEGO's Classic Space factions as the canvas for the larger universe, with the film focusing on original characters that then interact with the different factions. The characters' personalities shone through, the effects were the greatest yet for Mustache Maniacs Film Co., and the film opened up another new corner of the cinematic universe. As such, it was widely praised.
The month ended with the 15th anniversary of the Fifth Anniversary Collection, which meant that all five films from that DVD were re-released, including the first-ever Com 50 film (titled Com 50), a mini documentary about Islam, and a school project turned into a "news report." Also, during the month, a few behind the scenes videos were released.
In some respects, August was a quiet month up front with no new releases, or rather a month to get things together for the remainder of the year. On the other hand, August only saw one re-release, but it was the re-release that everyone had been waiting for since it had been announced the year prior: Johnny Thunder and the Secret of Marco Polo! There were internal worries that re-editing the film would polarize audiences, but instead, the fans have embraced the changes made to this classic film, giving the film high viewership. It made a month otherwise marked by behind the scenes videos a memorable one.
Right at the start of the month, a new film landed like a sack of potatoes, or rather a sack of flour! Sackie's Mishap (And Other Tales) was officially released on September 6. While this film did not receive a lot of viewership, it did add some heft to September's release schedule. Just before then, the first edition of our visual dictionary was added to our website, but that just set the groundwork for the big release this month: Mustache Maniacs Film Co.: The Visual Dictionary - 3rd Edition! This new version of the book significantly expanded upon the previous version by adding information related to newer releases, correcting factual errors, and retroactively inserting in content missing from the prior edition!
In addition, September saw the release of the soundtrack for the Ten Years of Going Crazy! celebration, which is now available for the first time ever. Otherwise, the month saw the release of behind-the-scenes videos related to Sam N' Bob Brawl and Freddy and Joey in Corn Farm, both of which celebrated their release anniversaries this month.
October saw a scaling back of the rest of the celebration, as an internal decision was made to focus on quality over quantity for these projects. All of the remaining projects for 2024, minus The Fourth Mustache Maniacs Film Co. Fan Choice Awards and The Archivist, were delayed to 2025 and beyond. Regardless, October still saw the release of new artwork for Howling Hollow: The Forest of Fear, as well as the return of Indiana Jones and the Treasure of Tikal, the last of the early Indy fan films to be re-released. This one was especially notable for being filmed in Big Sur, California, our first film to be shot on location. Finally, A Bite of MyJobs had a behind-the-scenes content release.
November was mainly used, behind the scenes, as a month to finish up the year's last few projects. With that said, November did see its fair share of releases, including the year's last special edition, Kilroy Was Here!: The Lost Footage. Three more titles were added to Original Cuts as well and behind the scenes videos regarding Speeder were released, but the big news was the exclusive sneak peek at Tales Across The World: A Short Story Collection. One of the book's authors, PeabodySam, released his four contributions to the book in order to set up the audience's expectations for when the book is finally released. Be advised that the sneak preview is so intense, this is the first time in Mustache Maniacs Film Co. history that a content advisory has been included. READ ALL FOUR HERE!
While a bulk of December's new content was just behind the scenes material, Twenty Years Young was sent off in a big way with one last new release: The Archivist! Leveraging the affiliate network as a creative team to bring new productions to life, this film was directed by Eli Hutchinson with the use of archival footage by Andrew Bermudez as a framework! It concerns an archivist intern who discovers some long-lost footage and brings it back into the light, just in time for Christmas. This is also our official return to live action, bringing back an old tradition and reimagining it for modern audiences! And with that, Twenty Years Young has officially come to a close.
2025 and Beyond: Project U Continues!
Now that Twenty Years Young has concluded, you will start to see the decorations for the celebration begin to disappear next month. Our THAC 2025 entry will be the first film to use the revised version of the celebration logo as our new evergreen logo and decorations will disappear across our online network throughout the month of January. In addition, after a long discussion, the Original Cuts releases of our past films will no longer be available publicly on YouTube, also starting in January. They will still be available on our website, but this move is being made so that newer fans and casual viewers won't become confused. The special editions are now recognized as the "definitive" versions of these films and will remain publicly available going forward.
As always, we're always working on new content for the years ahead, and next year is no different! Yes, with the anniversary celebration over, we're going to slow down our output for the time being, but between Project U and our other announced projects, we still have a lot to work on! It's already been confirmed that our THAC 2025 entry will be released on January 5, 2025, and we're looking to supercharge The Fourth Mustache Maniacs Film Co. Fan Choice Awards for release on February 16! Here's a list of all of our upcoming projects that we currently have in the works.
- Project U
- A Future in the Past
- Van Helbrick and the Monster Fighters
- Alpha Team: Mission Deep City
- Johnny Thunder and the Wonders Beneath the Waves
- B.I.O. Corps
- Mysteries of the Arctic
- Legends of the Universe
- Additional Films
- THAC 2025 Entry (Official Title Pending)
- The Fourth Mustache Maniacs Film Co. Fan Choice Awards
- William's Bell Overture: The Symphony of the Realities
- Greed and Grit
- Johnny Thunder and the Secret of Marco Polo: The Adventure Retold
- Pharaoh's Quest: Tyrant of the Chaco
- Alpha Team: Mission Deep Past
- Johnny Thunder and the Rise to Fame
- Alms Pouch: Finished At Last!
- Special Editions
- The Lost Ruby: An Interactive Adventure
- Shady Acres Super Sleuth
- Late for the Soccer Match Interactive
- Mustache Maniacs-opoly
- Mustache Maniacs Quiz Time (formerly Mustache Maniacs Film Co. GeoSafari)
- Literature
- Tales Across The World: A Short Story Collection
- Cooking With Flex: Recipes from Across Mustache Maniacs Film Co.'s Cinematic Universe
- The Holy Land Paragon
- The Silver Celebration (2029)
- The Fifth Mustache Maniacs Film Co. Fan Choice Awards
Going forward, in spite of what didn't happen during this celebration, we're going to have a bright future, including some new surprise projects in the pipeline, so here's to the next twenty years! Thank you for celebrating Twenty Years Young with us and we'll see you in 2025 and beyond!
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