Rachel Zegler's Very Funny 2024 Sci-Fi Flop Is Finally Finding Fans On Max

I'm not entirely sure why "Y2K" didn't fare better at the box office. However you look at it, $3.7 million on a $15 million budget just isn't good, and frankly director, co-writer, and "Saturday Night Live" alum Kyle Mooney deserved more. Not only is the man a comedy legend, but he also seemed to have a winning idea with "Y2K." You can imagine the A24 execs being quickly convinced during the pitch meeting: "What if Y2K actually happened?" It's such a simple idea that, as Mooney said frequently on the press tour, he couldn't believe nobody had done it. What's more, we're firmly in the age of early 2000s nostalgia now — right on time, too, if you believe in the 20-year cultural cycle rule.

As such, a horror-comedy about a Y2K doomsday actually happening from one of the most innovative comedians working today seems like it should have been a surefire hit. The fact the film starred Rachel Zegler and "IT" veteran Jaeden Martell suggested the movie might even appeal to younger audiences who perhaps don't remember (or were even born after) the whole Y2K panic as well. Alas, it wasn't to be. The 100% historically inaccurate "Y2K" just didn't draw an audience, which is a real shame because it's a heck of a lot of fun and includes some genuinely funny moments.

Now, though, it seems Mooney's horror-comedy finally has a bigger audience. "Y2K' has now managed to work its way into the top charts at Max, suggesting that the film might've always belonged on Warner Bros.' streaming platform.

After co-writing and starring in "Brigsby Bear," a wonderful, off-beat comedy about the power of storytelling, Kyle Mooney seemed primed to truly break out on his own as a writer/director with "Y2K." The film follows Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison), two high schoolers who crash a New Year's Eve party on the last night of 1999. Eli plans to kiss his crush, Laura (Rachel Zegler), at midnight, but those plans are quickly derailed after one of the attendees is found dead. It soon becomes clear that the Y2K bug has actually come to pass, causing technology to go haywire, become sentient, and embark on a collective killing spree, forcing the kids to fight for their lives. Sadly, none of this seemed to interest mass audiences when the film hit theaters in December 2024. Now, however, the movie is getting somewhat of a reprieve over on Max.

"Y2K" arrived on Warner Discovery's streaming service on April 4, 2025, and it hasn't taken long for audiences to, er, discover it. According to FlixPatrol, a site that tracks streaming viewership figures across the various platforms, "Y2K" is the number one most-watched movie on the platform, having hit the top spot on April 6 and since remained there at the time of writing. "Y2K" is in good company, too. On the TV side, Max viewers are also currently transfixed by medical drama "The Pitt" which has already been confirmed for a second season. Between that and "Y2K," Max is serving up some pretty decent entertainment. In order to stay at the top of the films chart, however, "Y2K" will have to contend with some stiff competition.

"Y2K" isn't as bad as its 42% Rotten Tomatoes score would have you believe. Still, you should probably be aware of what critics have said about Kyle Mooney's disaster comedy before joining the Max crowds. Writing for RogerEbert.com, Clint Worthington surmised that Mooney and his co-writer Evan Winter were concerned with "pin[ing] nostalgically" for the past more than anything else, and claimed the result was uninteresting. That sentiment was echoed by Brianna Zigler of the AV Club, who wrote, "'Y2K' comes across as the result of the most banal instincts of an artist who fell victim to nostalgia trends of his own: trying to recapture something that worked in the past instead of trying something new."

Calum Marsh at the New York Times was, however, more complimentary, writing, "The carnage of consumer goods is nasty, gory and cruel, with a darkly comic mean streak that recalls Joe Dante's 'Gremlins.'" If we're going to draw comparisons, that's a pretty good one. /Film's own Jacob Hall was similarly taken by the film and praised its director, who also appears in the film as a stoner video store worker named Garrett. "When Mooney is in joke mode," writes Hall, "sprinting from gag to gag without room to breathe, 'Y2K' is a great time at the movies: a midnight movie in the truest sense of the word."

Whatever you think of the movie, it seems it's finally getting the audience it deserves, or at least an audience beyond the few who saw it at the theater. In order to hold on to the top spot, though, "Y2K" will have to keep viewers' attention away from "In Dispute: Lively v Baldoni," which recounts the apparently endlessly fascinating "It Ends with Us" drama involving Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, and Ryan Reynolds. Still, that documentary has been in the charts for five days now, and "Y2K" is just getting started. 

Interestingly enough, Hugh Grant's brilliant 2024 horror film "Heretic," which is also from A24, is holding strong in the Max charts after an incredible 29 days. It isn't going to topple "Y2K," but that's a pretty impressive run for an A24 horror movie that fared much better than Mooney's film — not that the former "SNL" star cares. Mooney just released his brilliant album "The Real Me," which is funnier than pretty much anything else you've seen or heard recently. He also dropped a promotional film alongside the album, which is worth a watch if you're not quite ready to join the Max subscribers and give "Y2K" a go (which, again, you should).