Wham!

Wham! is a 2023 documentary film about the English pop duo Wham! consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. The film marks the 40th anniversary of their 1983 debut album Fantastic. It was directed by Chris Smith and relies primarily on rare archive footage and audio interviews by the duo, including television appearances, concert footage, private home video, behind-the-scenes outtakes, and family comments all linked together using scrapbooks created by Ridgeley's mother. The Netflix film was co-produced by Ventureland / Passion Pictures, Nemperor Production, and Library Films with Altitude Film and Netflix serving as distributors. Wham! had its world premiere at the Sheffield DocFest on 17–18 June 2023 and was given a limited theatrical release in the United Kingdom on 27 June, by Altitude Film. It was released worldwide to stream on 5 July 2023 on Netflix. It received generally positive reviews from critics. Synopsis Wham! begins with Ridgeley and Michael who first met at Bushey Meads School in 1975 when they were 12 and 11 years old, respectively. It covers the journey of the pop duo featuring home videos and never-before-seen archive footage. The film is all framed together using a large series of scrapbooks with articles and photos documented by Ridgeley's mother throughout the film. It discusses how they put together their first demo tape with a full version of "Wham Rap!" and a portion of "Careless Whisper" recorded in Ridgeley's front room, eventually signing a record deal with Innervision Records in March 1982. An important turning point for the band after the release of their first single "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" which failed to enter the UK singles chart, was an opportunity to appear on Top of the Pops in November 1982 performing "Young Guns (Go for It)" which rose in the chart from 42 eventually reaching number 3. Wham! follow up with a reissue of "Wham Rap!" which becomes a hit charting at number 8 and "Bad Boys" at number 2. "Club Tropicana" see the duo fly to the Spanish island of Ibiza, their first music video shoot abroad. It was filmed at Pikes Hotel with Ridgeley describing it as being more in line with their intended image.