Fact Check

'Friends Reunited' Movie Coming Out in 2025?

A post claimed the film would be coming to screens via streaming service Max, formerly known as HBO Max.

Published July 3, 2024

 (YouTube account @ScreenCultureOfficial)
Image courtesy of YouTube account @ScreenCultureOfficial
Claim:
"Friends Reunited: The One With Chandler's Funeral" is a real film due out in 2025 based on the popular television series "Friends."

On June 30, 2024, the YouTube account @ScreenCultureOfficial posted a video purportedly showing a trailer for a new "Friends" movie called "Friends Reunited: The One With Chandler's Funeral."

The post claimed the film would be coming to screens in 2025 via streaming service Max, formerly known as HBO Max.

Screen Culture's caption said the motion picture would feature the beloved "Friends" cast — Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc — and co-creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman:

Playing the titular friends, those five actors should obviously be the focus of the movie, but at the same time, another great part of Friends was its well of hilarious recurring players and guest stars.

As of now, Warner Media has yet to announce a release date for the Friends Reunited Movie on Max. If the plan to tape the show finally holds to Nov 2024 though, there's absolutely no reason fans shouldn't expect to see it materialize to stream by summer 2025 at the latest. Considering the original plan was to release the movie sometime in summer 2025, one assumes Warner Media wouldn't feel the need to waste any time hemming and hawing over a release schedule, and will probably put it out there at the earliest opportunity.

Similar claims appeared in multiple Facebook posts, on TikTok, and in a couple of X posts.

Together, they had amassed more than 187,000 views and interactions at the time of this writing.

People commenting on the YouTube video appeared to believe the trailer was legitimate, with one writing: "Who are the greedy idiots behind this idea?"

Another said: "I thought this was a parody at first. Seriously this is happening!"

One YouTube user even asked: "Is this real?"

(YouTube account @cyph3r76)

However, Screen Culture explained in its caption that the trailer was a concept, which is why we have rated this claim and video as "Fake."

It also included an explanation into how the video was made:

Altered or synthetic content.

Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated.

The YouTube account's "About" section also described Screen Culture as "the home of scintillating and extravagant 'Concept/Fan-Made' trailers from various cinematic universes like Marvel, DC, Star Wars and many more!"

Hundreds of concept trailers could be found in the "Video" section of Screen Culture's account.

Snopes found no evidence Max streaming service released a trailer for a "Friends" film.

No media outlets reported on a trailer being published, which would have been eminently newsworthy if it were true.

Sources

'friends Reunited' Trailer Max Streaming - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=9625335c57f85a94&q=%22friends+reunited%22+trailer+max+streaming&tbm=nws&source=lnms&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWfbQph1uib-VfD_izZO2Y5pt2wBeNNRFhtfGNWgf58ywvD8gGmmmtSTDopYb2uYKt22KSsNycrCGTSZdhb4Pur-pC3XA-5cmrLVb_aJrPZBxGqpDns1nHJhRsy2AUU03lT99cnEfRsDBrD7e1SyIvKbqF7xV7coRhsRzqtu7zWCNBQv0k&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi9uqnDwYuHAxVuVUEAHTPzClQQ0pQJegQIDRAB&biw=1280&bih=593&dpr=1.5. Accessed 3 July 2024.

---. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22friends+reunited%22+trailer+max+streaming&sca_esv=9625335c57f85a94&ei=0pmFZuHHBYCAhbIPnaCOmAU&ved=0ahUKEwjh-PeywYuHAxUAQEEAHR2QA1MQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=%22friends+reunited%22+trailer+max+streaming&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiKCJmcmllbmRzIHJldW5pdGVkIiB0cmFpbGVyIG1heCBzdHJlYW1pbmcyBxAhGKABGAoyBxAhGKABGAoyBxAhGKABGAoyBxAhGKABGApI_BVQ9wdYmhVwAngBkAEAmAGaAaABqQuqAQQwLjEyuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIOoAKgDMICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAgUQIRigAcICBBAhGBWYAwCIBgGQBgSSBwQyLjEyoAepIQ&sclient=gws-wiz-serp&gws_rd=ssl. Accessed 3 July 2024.

Screen Culture. Friends Reunited – Trailer (2025) 'The One With Chandler's Funeral' | Max. 2024. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8IzeQmMJ9c.

'---'. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGA2OgjW608QEaGwxA7aRTg. Accessed 3 July 2024.

Screen Culture - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@ScreenCultureOfficial/videos. Accessed 3 July 2024.

Nick Hardinges is a London-based reporter who previously worked as a fact-checker at Reuters.

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