Backrooms: A New Era
Kane Parsons' 'Backrooms' Debuts with A24, Heralding a New Era of Internet-Raised Filmmakers
A 20-year-old YouTuber just broke a box office record. Kane Parsons, who first uploaded a 9-minute horror short to YouTube at age 16, opened his debut feature film "Backrooms" to $81.4 million domestically in its opening weekend, according to Forbes. That makes him the youngest director ever to have a #1 film at the North American box office, per The Guardian.
Made for just $10 million and backed by A24, the film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as a failed architect haunted by his past. Critics are calling it a genuine work of art — and a sign that Hollywood's next wave of filmmakers is coming straight from the internet, according to The News & Observer.
From a 4chan Photo to an $82 Million Opening Weekend
The story starts in 2019. An anonymous user posted a grainy photo on 4chan of an empty yellow office space. They called it "The Backrooms" — a place you fall into by "no-clipping" out of reality. The image spread fast across the internet, according to Wikipedia.
In January 2022, Parsons — then 16 — turned that image into a 9-minute found-footage horror short on YouTube. It went viral, eventually reaching 80 million views, per Forbes. A24 came calling in February 2023, pairing Parsons with producers James Wan and Shawn Levy. By May 2026, the film was in theaters. Thursday night previews alone brought in $10.4 million.
Ejiofor Anchors a Film That Is More Than Monster Scares
The film is set in 1990 Santa Clara. Ejiofor plays Clark, a failed architect who now runs a furniture store called "Cap'n Clark's Ottoman Empire." He is haunted by memories of his agoraphobic mother. His therapist, played by Renate Reinsve, tries to help him cope. The horror of the Backrooms grows out of that emotional core.
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called Ejiofor's performance "barnstormingly good" and the film "icily brilliant," drawing comparisons to David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" and the TV show "Severance." Amy Nicholson of The LA Times called it "a work of honest-to-goodness art." Not every critic agreed — the Houston Chronicle gave it just 1.5 out of 5 stars, arguing the backstory is "more interesting than the result."
Parsons Built a 30,000-Square-Foot Maze — No Green Screen
To make the Backrooms feel real, production designer Danny Vermette built a 30,000-square-foot practical set. No green screen. The goal was physical immersion. The endless yellow corridors were designed to mimic what Vermette called spaces born from "bad, lazy design" — familiar places that feel deeply wrong when empty, according to Interview Magazine.
Parsons co-composed the film's score alongside his directing duties. Actor Mark Duplass pushed back against anyone skeptical of Parsons' age. "Kane was 100% in control," Duplass told The Guardian. "More so than many directors 3x his age." Parsons himself said, "The concept of me having an age feels irrelevant," per The LA Times.
A24's Big Bet Shows Internet IP Can Beat Hollywood Franchises
A24 gave a teenager $10 million and full creative control. The gamble paid off. The $117.9 million global opening weekend shows that a niche, internet-born idea can outperform big-studio sequels, according to Forbes. Analysts say A24 has "bypassed the traditional gatekeeping" of Hollywood by backing Parsons, per Wallpaper.
Parsons is already thinking about what comes next. He has hinted at a possible "Backrooms" video game and a new film project titled "People Still Live Here," per Interview Magazine. If "Backrooms" is any sign, Hollywood may not be setting the agenda for the next generation — the internet already did that.
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