Skibidi Toilet. YouTube‘s #1 trending topic of 2023. The cultural phenomenon that, at one point, was raking in 3 billion views per month on YouTube alone.

And, soon, maybe Hollywood’s next big cinematic universe?

If Michael Bay has his way, it will be.

For the uninitiated, Skibidi Toilet absolutely skyrocketed to popularity last summer. It’s a series of short, lo-fi, computer-generated videos set in a world where a vast army of toilets with heads in them face off against a rival force of characters with things like TVs, CCTV cameras, and megaphones for heads. It’s made by self-taught Russian animator Alexey Gerasimov, and first went live in February 2023.

Since then, Gerasimov has produced 76 installments set in his ever-expanding fictional world, and together they’ve generated over 65 billion views across platforms, including on his chart-topping YouTube channel DaFuq!?Boom!, where he has a cool 43 million subscribers.

Bay first hooked up with Skibidi this past May,...