Note: This piece was originally written in March 2025.I was five minutes late for my planned arrival time at the Hollywood Palladium to watch Green Day film scenes for New Years Rev, but I had to stop and take pictures of the marquee, which read “GREEN DAY – DEC 31.”

Anyone who hadn’t seen the LA casting call might’ve been confused, because it was March 25–the second to last day of shooting for the movie. The film, written and directed by Lee Kirk, doesn’t star the band, but if my set visit was any indication, New Years Rev is a ride no Green Day fan will want to miss.

I was welcomed to the Palladium by a contact at Live Nation Studios, the Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy-nominated film and TV wing of the live experience empire, and was immediately struck by how much the inside looked like any other Green Day concert I’ve attended.

Fans with shirts representing different eras of the band’s storied history filled the pit, and the Palladium’s bars were loaded with drinks and snacks for everyone involved in the 11+ hour day of filming. Here’s what I learned after hours of watching Green Day perform and chatting with some of the film’s producers and creatives.

Green Day & Lee Kirk Worked To Give Viewers A Real Concert Experience

New Years Rev is a road trip comedy about a young band (led by How to Train Your Dragon’s Mason Thames) traveling cross-country in hopes of opening for their favorite artists, so it was always going to be a Green Day love letter.

Still, music in Hollywood movies is always hit-or-miss; at best, performances are captured on set to truly capture an actor’s work (Wicked, for example, did a standout job at this). At worst, the editing doesn’t sync up with what’s happening on stage at all, or performers are very clearly lip-synching to pre-recorded music.

In my experience, the latter was not the case in New Years Rev. For their part, Green Day advocated for their actual concert audio package to be a part of their performance, revealed a producer with Live Nation.

The band’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool are also credited as producers on the movie, suggesting their input was a truly valuable part of the process.

Green Day’s performances for New Years Rev have every hallmark of one of the band’s arena performances, starting with their iconic Drunk Bunny dancing to the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” continuing with Billie Joe’s signature crowd work, and ending with “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” performed on a confetti-strewn stage.

You’ll never know you needed to hear Green Day perform “Auld Lang Syne” until you watch this movie, either (it’s New Years, remember?)

During shooting, Green Day played a number of songs multiple times, suggesting those are shoe-ins for the final cut. But they also launched into a mini-set at one point, which might have been only for the fans patiently waiting for the camera crew to reset.

Below are the songs that I heard firsthand, which are also listed on a user-updated setlist.fm page.

• “Know Your Enemy”
• “Revolution Radio”
• “American Idiot”
• “One-Eyed Bastard”
• “2,000 Light Years Away”
• “Going To Pasalacqua”
• “Auld Lang Syne”
• “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”

Who’s Involved With New Years Rev?

As mentioned earlier, New Years Rev was written and directed by Lee Kirk. He’s the director of 2016’s Ordinary World and the husband of The Office’s Jenna Fischer, who appears in the film alongside her co-star from that sitcom and the Office Ladies podcast, Angela Kinsey.

At one point, Fischer even took to the stage to share how much the film meant to her family. She also said it was the 20th anniversary of The Office and reflected that they never imagined it would get so big–before dropping a perfectly timed “That’s what she said” and walking off-stage.

In addition to Thames, the core trio at the heart of New Years Rev is brought to life by Kylr Coffman and Ryan Foust. Also appearing are Mckenna Grace, Fred Armisen, Sean Gunn, Bobby Lee, and Keen Ruffalo.

In addition to the team at Live Nation Studios, the movie was also produced by Tim Perell, who, refreshingly, spoke to me about how easygoing and collaborative the members of Green Day were throughout production. Perell also teased some comedic improvisation between Armstrong, Dirnt, and Cool in some scenes.

What Will New Years Rev Be Rated?

New Years Rev has yet to be rated, but it was revealed to me that the intention is to earn an R rating, so those worried about a sanitized tale of mild rock ‘n’ rolling shouldn’t fret. As the Palladium scenes were focused only on Green Day’s performances, other plot details outside the already released synopsis were not disclosed.

But, given that the story of the film’s young musicians is based on Green Day’s early days, a certain level of hijinks is to be expected. Google Green Day’s famous mud fight at Woodstock 1994 for an example.

When Will New Years Rev Be Released?

If all goes according to plan, the answer is in the тιтle. I was told that the goal was to get New Years Rev to the finish line and in front of viewers by the end of 2025, which is an admittedly тιԍнт turnaround considering that principal pH๏τography has only just wrapped.

While I was only able to see one section of the movie and have no idea how those scenes will be treated in the editing room, my guess is as good as anyone’s as to what the final product will be.

But, in this writer’s opinion, chances are high that with New Years Rev, one potential distributor has an opportunity to make the large cross-section between rock music fans and comedy lovers very happy this holiday season.

New Years Rev will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.