All articles tagged with #kane parsons
21-year-old Kane Parsons, director of the breakout Backrooms, has become Hollywood’s hottest free agent as A24 reportedly offers a record deal to keep him, while Warner Bros. and Universal circle and court him with high-profile meetings.
A24 is re-releasing the surprise horror hit Backrooms as 'Backrooms: Everything Must Go Edition' with 15 minutes of bonus footage, running about 2 hours 6 minutes and hitting theaters on July 3. The re-release features a theatrically exclusive post-credits sequence with footage from director Kane Parsons, who rose to attention on YouTube as a teen. The move aims to capitalize on the busy July 4th weekend amid competition from Toy Story 5 and Minions & Monsters; A24 did not immediately comment.
Backrooms has become A24’s highest-grossing worldwide release, surpassing Marty Supreme with about $212 million globally (roughly $135 million in North America) after just 10 days, with strong international performance and signs of franchise potential.
Kane Parsons, director of Backrooms, says generative AI has already caused, and may continue to cause, harmful effects on creativity and the industry, calling it a symptom of cultural and economic rot. He’s skeptical about using AI for creating art but sees potential for AI to assist with tedious VFX work and intends to explore AI as a topic in future projects.
Backrooms is on track to surpass $100 million domestically, officially becoming A24’s highest-grossing film in North America with a Tuesday cume of $97.7 million, taking the crown from Marty Supreme’s $96 million. The $10 million feature opened to $81.4 million and has continued strong through the week, aided by Gen Z audiences (half of opening-weekend patrons were under 25). Directed by Kane Parsons, who began the project as YouTube Shorts and retains the IP, the film is produced by Chernin Entertainment, Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, and 21 Laps, and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.
A24’s horror hit Backrooms, based on Kane Parsons’ web lore, crossed $100 million at the domestic box office in six days, becoming the studio’s highest-grossing film domestically (and likely globally soon) with a production budget around $10 million and a current worldwide total near $144 million; the film also marked the biggest debut for A24 and the strongest start for an original horror movie, though a sequel hasn’t been announced and analysts expect a robust second weekend.
Backrooms crosses $100 million domestic in six days, marking A24’s first-ever $100M domestic hit and its top-performing title stateside; globally it’s north of $136M and on track to overtake Everything Everywhere All at Once as A24’s second-highest worldwide (Marty Supreme remains the top at $191.3M). The second weekend is projected to drop about 55–60% to roughly $32–37M. Kane Parsons becomes the youngest filmmaker to open at No. 1 with a film that tops $100M globally, with a production budget under $10M.
Backrooms earned $7.669M on Monday, the best June Monday ever for a horror film, lifting its four‑day domestic total to about $89M and its worldwide start to $118M after an $81.4M domestic opening. The Kane Parsons–led A24 feature is already being eyed for a sequel, Obsession placed second, and Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu was third. A second‑weekend drop around 55% is expected, with domestic figures in the ~$36–$37M range as new titles enter the race.
A 27-year-old assistant who monitored YouTube for talent at Shawn Levy’s company helped launch the meme-based film Backrooms, which opened to $118 million worldwide on a $10 million budget, sparking talk of a potential sea change in how projects are found and greenlit, with Kane Parsons treating it as a single episode of his web-series and envisioning multiple seasons.
Backrooms dominated the weekend box office with an $81.4 million opening in 3,442 theaters, the largest opening for an original horror movie and for A24, signaling a potential franchise breakout as Kane Parsons makes his feature debut; worldwide total nears $118 million.
The Hollywood Reporter debunks online rumors that viral horror filmmakers Kane Parsons (Backrooms) and Curry Barker (Obsession) had established Hollywood directors ghost-directing their films; insiders say creator-driven talent from YouTube is a legitimate, growing path to big-screen opportunities, with defenders noting classist skepticism and citing examples like Markiplier’s Iron Lung as evidence that Hollywood is increasingly embracing online creators.
Deadline reports that after Backrooms’ $118M worldwide opening, Kane Parsons is pursuing a Backrooms sequel and is looking for a screenwriting collaborator; there’s no cast or green light yet, and Parsons’ deal for further Backrooms work sits with A24 as the project remains in early development.
Kane Parsons, a 20-year-old YouTuber behind the viral Backrooms shorts that originated on 4chan, helped expand the concept into a feature produced with James Wan’s Blumhouse-Atomic Monster. With a $10 million budget, the film opened to $81 million domestically and $118 million worldwide, making Parsons the youngest director to top the box office and signaling Hollywood’s shift toward young online talent guided by industry mentors.
The Vancouver-shot horror film Backrooms opened to about $118 million worldwide on a $10 million budget, surpassing trackers by tens of millions. Producer Chris Ferguson says the demand is non-stop as Hollywood inquiries flood in, praising Kane Parsons’s talent and detailing how his team integrated the YouTube creator into a tight feature-film crew. The project, backed by Neon and Ferguson's Phobos with partners including A24, Chernin Entertainment, 21 Laps, and Atomic Monster, continues to shape Parsons’s longform career and hints at future Longlegs projects.
The horror hit Backrooms, directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, wowed the box office with $81 million domestic and $118 million worldwide in its opening weekend, marking the biggest debut for A24 and the strongest start for an original horror film. Parsons became the youngest filmmaker to helm a No. 1 film, aided by high-profile producers and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, with the project rooted in Parsons’ popular liminal-space web series. The film’s record-breaking numbers highlight Gen Z’s cinema appetite and reinforce a growing YouTube-to-Hollywood talent pipeline that could fuel future projects and potential sequels or franchises.