WILLIAMSBURG — After nearly two decades, the legendary Spike & Mike’s Animation Extravaganza is back and coming to theaters across Virginia — including Williamsburg — Oct. 31-Nov. 2.
Exclusively at Regal, the 90-minute theatrical event blends new adult animation shorts with unearthed Spike & Mike classics, and is hosted by YouTuber Jaiden Animations and Ross O’Donovan.
Chelsea Harfoush is the Executive Producer for this production as a part of Skybound Entertainment. Her background is in digital content, which she said Skybound describes as anything that reaches consumers or viewers directly.
“Spike & Mike came to me through my work at Skybound, but I was really, really excited because I think that animation is such an exciting space and it’s also one that people are trying modes of getting it out there into the world rather then just the traditional, you turn on the television, you watch Cartoon Network, or you watch Fox animation domination,” Harfoush explained.
“Now for the first time, we’re seeing some of the biggest animation come out of YouTube and come out of the Internet, come out of TikTok. So to me, that’s the very exciting thing about what we’re trying to do with Spike & Mike,” she continued.
Skybound Entertainment said it received hundreds of submissions of short films from creators across North America, selecting 24 films to be part of the inaugural three-day comeback festival. These shorts, alongside ones from the Spike and Mike vault, will transport audiences through a kaleidoscope of animation — retro 8-bit adventures, balloon-based aliens with interstellar appetites, plentiful heaps of phlegm-spitting characters, zombies just trying to make friends, skeletons dancing under full moons, and video game marathons that race against reality itself.
The selection process for the titles was not outsourced. Harfoush said that the team watched every single short film that came through, adding they would sometimes have long discussions where they would advocate for their favorites. What she was looking for was a point of view.
“I think a big part of creating art a lot of times is to look around and see the things that you love and you usually go through a period, wheather it’s an animation or filmmaking or drawing or painting or whatever it is, you go through a period where you are looking to things that you already love, and you’re trying to kidn of emulate that, and I was relaly looking for voices that I felt were original and had their own point of view,” she said.
Another thing that she said she was looking for were voices that were underrepresented in the animation community.
“Nowadays, in 2025, adult animation is everywhere. It’s one of the fastest-growing genres and content. So for me, I was like, if we’re gonna continue the legacy of Spike & Mike being groundbreaking, the next step of that is to look for voices that are unrepresented in animation and in media in general,” Harfoush said.
Spanning a variety of genres, the new Shorts that will be featured in the compilation include:
- “Baloney Beacon,” directed by Max Landman — A godlike alien hungers for exotic delicacies from the deepest reaches of space in this stop-motion animated film made entirely with balloons.
- “Beautiful Day,” directed by Max Johnson — A phlegm-spitting, bone-cracking, mind-bending man experiences a body falling apart on a beautiful day in this mixed-media animated short and music video.
- “Danse Macabre,” directed by Dawn Brown — Skeletons rise from the grave to frolic under the full moon in tribute to Disney’s classic The Skeleton Dance.
- “Debt & Misgivings,” directed by Conor Cole, DJ Garcia, & Maya Ash Buttmaggot — Two bounty hunters fight tooth and nail to pay their rent and feed their lizard in a world ruled by mischief and self-interest.
- “Detektive Thumb and the Infinity House,” directed by Preston King — A detective encounters a house that devours him alive.
- “Doodlepops,” directed by Loserville Animation Studios—A couple celebrates a birthday at a restaurant that really loves to celebrate birthdays.
- “Heart-Ache,” directed by Sam Grinberg—A man faces the choice between lust and love.
- “Ludo,” directed by Mélissa Navarro — After killing a monster to save her baby brother, Andrea is haunted years later by a familiar sound.
- “Overnight,” directed by Chenglin Xie — An overworked clerk begins to have hallucinations linked to his own death.
- “Sarge Unboxes a Flamethrower,” dir. Matt Somma — Sarge and the boys unbox a new flamethrower with chaotic results.
- “Sharkbaby,” directed by Steven Shea (Abyssmal Entertainment) — A mother granted the miracle of conception discovers the true essence of existence.
- “The Scramble,” directed by Angelina Retodo — A ninja chef embarks on a quest to find a rare dragon egg and cook the ultimate omelet, encountering mysterious obstacles along the way.
- “What the Heck?,” directed by Del Agnew — A man contemplates his life in his room when something completely unexpected occurs.
The Two Spike & Mike shorts that will also be featured are:
- “Boby Le Zombie,” directed by Loïc Guetat — Boby is a friendly zombie trying to make a date go right, but his delicate constitution turns romance into nightmare.
- “Cox + Combes’ Washington,” directed by Brad Neely — A whimsical retelling of the story of the first president.
This extravaganza is staged in partnership with Regal Theaters. There will be showings at the Williamsburg Regal New Town, and there will also be showings nearby at Newport News Regal Kiln Creek and Regal Short Pump in Richmond.
“The one thing you can expect is that you can’t expect, you can’t pin down what this is going to be,” Harfoush said. She also emphasizes caution should be exercised when bringing young folks, as this is adult animation and is not a program for children.
Tickets for the festival are on sale now at REGmovies.com. For more information, including the full schedule and participating Regal locations, visit the official website.
