Following the huge success of his feature film debut, Backrooms director Kane Parsons is in talks with A24 to lock down a first look deal, but other big Hollywood studios are interested too.
As per Puck News, Parsons is reportedly in talks for a 3-year first-look deal with A24 that could be worth upwards of $65 million, though the deal is still being negotiated. However, Warner Bros., Universal, and Sony have also set up meetings with Parsons, and Puck's sources say they are also interested in signing the 21-year-old director.
This is not surprising, as Parsons, who started out making shorts on YouTube, exceeded all expectations with his horror breakout earlier this year. After hitting screens in May, 2026, Backrooms earned a whopping $374 million at the worldwide box office against a production budget of just $10 million. The film is based on the creepypasta first posted on 4chan, depicting a creepy liminal world, which Kane expanded on in his YouTube series in 2022.
Backrooms is part of a recent shift in Hollywood, which has seen original movies with smaller budgets and new directors outperform major blockbusters. 2026 horror movie Obsession, directed by fellow YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Curry Barker, took over the big screen earlier this year, earning $428 million against a budget of less than $1 million. Whereas the new Star Wars movie The Mandalorian and Grogu, which was released around the same time, scraped $340 million against a much larger budget of around $165 million, before marketing.
Parsons and Barker seem to have started a trend, as 22-year-old YouTuber Alex Kister has since signed on to direct an adaptation of his The Mandela Catalogue web series for Amazon’s United Artists label and Amblin. Plus, another creepypasta, Siren Head, from artist Trevor Henderson, is being made into a movie over at Warner Bros.
As for what is next for Parsons, the director has shown interest in adapting the video game Portals, but is also thinking about making another Backrooms movie. As part of the deal, A24 reportedly wants the director to make at least two more films under its banner, and one of those projects could be a Backrooms sequel.
For more, check out our guide to the best horror movies, and keep up with other exciting upcoming horror movies on the way.
