Roku City
Roku City is the name given to the default screensaver present on Roku streaming devices. The looping background depicts a virtual metropolis at night, colored by hues of magenta and blue. It contains Easter eggs and references to Hollywood movies, and has been recognized for its use of such references. The screensaver began to have advertising in May 2023.
Overview
The screensaver depicts a slowly looping city street in the foreground, composed of businesses, a diner, a movie theater, and a city hall. Across a body of water in the background, there are silhouettes of buildings, volcanoes, a spaceship, a robot monster, and more. The complementary color scheme is prominently composed of pink and purple hues. The scene changes with the seasons; in the autumn months, trees change colors. The illustration contains easter eggs[1] of various films and characters, including King Kong[2] and The Wizard of Oz.[3]
The illustrations were created by Kyle Jones,[4] a freelance graphic artist, who took inspiration from Art Deco architecture to design the city. The name of the background known internally at Roku was City Scroll: Movie Magic, and it debuted in 2018.[5]
In December 2024, Roku City received its biggest update so far, in which the screensaver was updated from HD (720p) to FHD (1080p), a star button was added to billboards across the city to allow viewers to easily learn more about the program being advertised, and new Easter eggs and the Roku City train station were added to the city.[6]
Easter eggs
Roku City is filled with hidden Easter eggs and homages to famous Hollywood movies and TV shows, and more recently, pop culture and social media trends, creating what has been described as a "Where's Waldo?" for the streaming era and inspiring a "new kind of fandom" (in 2022, Roku's internal tracking data showed that Roku City was mentioned once every eleven minutes on Twitter, as reported by The New York Times).[7][8] Many outlets have covered the popularity of Roku City and how it is fueled by the screensaver's Easter eggs. As one journalist put it, "Roku fans love its screensaver that shows Roku City full of hidden references to movies and TV shows."[9] Another stressed how Roku City is "updated periodically with the latest hits and Easter eggs to delight fans."[10] Domenic DiMeglio, the executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Paramount Streaming expressed similar thoughts when announcing a new limited-time Paramount neighborhood in Roku City, stating that "[f]ans are always looking for those Easter eggs."[11]
Below is a non-exhaustive list of films and shows referenced in Roku City as of July 2024:[12]
| Referenced media | Easter egg details |
|---|---|
| 101 Dalmatians | Cruella De Vil's car can be seen driving across the foreground with a Dalmatian dog sticking its head out the window. |
| Back to the Future | The Hill Valley Courthouse is visible in the foreground with Marty McFly's hoverboard on the steps. |
| Cars | Ramone can be seen driving across the foreground. |
| Cast Away | An island with a ball on it is visible in the water, referencing Wilson the volleyball from the film. |
| A Christmas Story | A leg lamp can be seen through a window. |
| Ghostbusters | The firehouse featured as the Ghostbusters' base of operations is pictured in the foreground. |
| The Graduate | The silhouette of a woman's leg extended in front of a standing man can be seen in the windows of one of the buildings, referencing the film's poster shot.[13] |
| Jaws | A shark fin is seen sticking out of the water following a boat. |
| Singin' in the Rain | A lamp post is pictured with an umbrella next to it. |
| Star Wars | The Death Star can be seen floating in the sky in the background. |
| Superman | The Daily Planet building can be seen in the background. |
| The Wizard of Oz | The Emerald City can be seen in the background. |
Advertising
It slowly began adding advertising to the city through branded partnerships in 2023,[14] including with McDonald's,[15] Paramount+,[16] and Disney.[17] These partnerships usually add a new branded building or a new billboard to the city.[18] In some instances, they have changed pre-existing buildings to include the branding. Roku built a real life, pop-up display of Roku City for the 2023 SXSW festival.[19]
Reception
As Roku became a popular player in the streaming space, the ubiquity of Roku City gave rise to semi-ironic fascination among users, and it became the focus of memes.[3] Olivia Craighead of Gawker wrote: "Roku City haunts me. What would it be like to live in such a place, where there is peace in one borough while just a river away there is mass hysteria and a giant robot is terrorizing the masses."[20] Roku's internal team observed an uptick in attention at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when most people stayed home and nightlife was nonexistent.[5]
Its widespread usage has been considered unprecedented. Luke Winkie at The New York Times wrote: "Roku has become the unlikely venue for a massive public art experiment. Due to the size of the company’s customer base, countless homes peer into Roku City every weeknight."[5]
References
- ↑ Herren, Parker (May 2, 2023). "Roku brings McDonald's to Roku City as part of new ad format". Ad Age. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ↑ Weprin, Alex (May 2, 2023). "Coming Soon to Roku City: Brand Advertisers". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- 1 2 Rossen, Jake (November 9, 2022). "The Easter-Egg-Filled 'Roku City' Screen Saver Has Its Own Fandom". Mental Floss. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ↑ "Rⲟku Screensaver – Kyle Jones". Kyle Jones – Studio. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- 1 2 3 Winkie, Luke (November 2, 2022). "The Story Behind the Roku Screen Saver". The New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ↑ Oberoi, Karandeep Singh (December 11, 2024). "Roku City's glow up is rolling out worldwide this week". Android Police. Retrieved February 10, 2025.
- ↑ "The Easter-Egg-Filled 'Roku City' Screen Saver Has Its Own Fandom". Mental Floss. November 9, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
- ↑ Winkie, Luke (November 2, 2022). "Pack Your Bags, We're Moving to 'Roku City'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
- ↑ Bouma, Luke (August 28, 2024). "Roku is Fixing One of Its Biggest Issues". Cord Cutters News. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
- ↑ Weinberg, Rob (August 2, 2023). "Shouting from Roku's animated rooftops". The Coast News Group. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
- ↑ Weprin, Alex (May 24, 2023). "Paramount+ Secures "Neighborhood" in Roku City (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
- ↑ Engvalson, Audrey (July 7, 2024). "27 Easter Eggs I Almost Looked Past In The Roku City Screensaver". Buzzfeed. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
- ↑ Shoard, Catherine (February 1, 2013). "Linda Gray: leg on The Graduate poster was mine, not Anne Bancroft's". The Guardian. Retrieved August 27, 2026.
- ↑ Weprin, Alex (May 2, 2023). "Coming Soon to Roku City: Brand Advertisers". Yahoo Entertainment. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ↑ Walker, Rob (July 28, 2023). "Why is Roku's stock soaring? Take a look at Roku City". Fast Company. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ↑ Winslow, George (May 24, 2023). "Paramount+ Launches Custom Roku City Neighborhood". TVTechnology. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ↑ Weprin, Alex (December 18, 2023). "Cinderella's Castle From Disney World Set to Take Over Roku City (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ↑ Roku. "Straight from The Tortured Poets Department... Taylor is back in Roku City". Retrieved October 8, 2025.
- ↑ "Roku". Roku. November 28, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ↑ Craighead, Olivia (August 18, 2021). "Take Me Down to the Roku City". gawker.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2024.