The Cloning Device

The Cloning Device is a 2023 American live-action/animated epic science-fiction psychological comedy-drama web-film directed by Damien Leone and featuring an ensemble cast of Jonny RaZer, Joe Caine, RoyalPear, Danno, Bundun, RoyalProtoM, Phaleur, Mogswamp, Knsplash, cdotkom, BamBaeYoh, PewDiePie, Dylan Stratton, Jessica "Jess" Bravura, Erika Henningsen, Stephanie Beatriz, Michael Kovach, Krystal LaPorte, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kimiko Glenn, Keith David, Will Stamper, Brandon Rogers, Richard Steven Horvitz, Carolyn Lawrence, Erica Lindbeck, Bryce Pinkham, Doug Walker, Malcolm Ray, Tamara Chambers, Rob Walker, Jim Jarosz, Baker Terry, Joseph Pelling, InternetCity, Ali Koca, Taylor Nikolai, Christopher Lloyd, Amber Doig-Thorne, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The film involves RaZer assembling a team of commentary YouTubers and other individuals to rise up and go to war against CloneVPN, an antagonistic faction that creates artificial clones of various YouTubers, particularly those based in YouTube Shorts, and web-series characters if they refuse to give up their respective channels, lifestyles and/or businesses.

After a limited theatrical release on July 12, The Cloning Device was released exclusively for free-viewing on YouTube on July 16, 2023. It received universal acclaim by critics, general audiences and YouTube fans alike for its direction, screenplay, themes, realistic pacing, score, action sequences, emotional weight, intertwining of live-action and animation, and visual effects and was a record-breaking success on YouTube, amassing over 200 million views within its first week on the site alone. The film has held an approval rating of 100% on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes based on 325 reviews and an average IMDb rating of 9.9/10 ever since its release and has never garnered a negative review yet, overtaking Citizen Kane and Paddington 2 as the film to have a Rotten Tomatoes score of 100% the longest.