A24 sets Backrooms film from YouTube creator Kane Parsons for 2026

The Backrooms moved from internet folklore to the mainstream with a rare kind of Hollywood bet: A24 opened Kane Parsons’ feature adaptation in U.S. theaters on May 29, 2026, turning a YouTube horror universe into a $10 million studio release.

Parsons, who was 19 when the project was greenlit, directed the film as his first full-length feature and became the youngest director in A24 history. The movie stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, with Mark Duplass, Lukita Maxwell, Avan Jogia and Finn Bennett later joining the cast. A24 and Chernin Entertainment co-financed the film, while James Wan’s Atomic Monster and Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment were among the producing banners attached to the project.

The film’s premise keeps close to the online mythology that made Parsons a breakout name. A24 describes the story as centering on a strange doorway in the basement of a furniture showroom, a setup that fits the uncanny, enclosed spaces that helped make Backrooms a defining example of liminal-space horror. That aesthetic traces back to a 2019 4chan creepypasta about an endless maze of abandoned, yellow-lit office space, a premise that spread far beyond its original forum roots.

Parsons’ first Backrooms short, The Backrooms (Found Footage), debuted on YouTube on January 7, 2022, and the series quickly became a viral hit. By mid-2025, trade coverage said the Backrooms universe had accumulated more than 190 million views. That audience scale helps explain why a lo-fi internet horror concept could become a bankable IP for a company like A24, which has built its brand on genre films with strong identity and cult potential.

The project also reflects how studios are increasingly mining online communities instead of waiting for traditional books, comics or preexisting franchises to deliver a built-in audience. In Parsons’ case, the jump from creator to feature filmmaker was unusually direct, and unusually fast. He told IndieWire he had to weigh college applications against the A24 opportunity, a reminder that the path into Hollywood now runs as much through YouTube and fandom culture as through film school or studio apprenticeships.

Production reportedly began in Canada in 2025, and the screenplay was written by Will Soodik. With a reported runtime of 110 minutes, Backrooms arrived as both a genre picture and a test case for how far studio executives are willing to follow Gen Z taste, internet-native horror and creator-led worlds into the multiplex.