20‑year‑old Kane Parsons may break record with Backrooms

A young filmmaker is poised to make box office history this weekend as his directorial debut, the horror film "Backrooms," opens in theaters. The film, from studio A24, is projected to have a record-breaking opening, potentially making its 20-year-old director, Kane Parsons, the youngest filmmaker ever to helm a number-one movie in America.

The film is an adaptation of a viral YouTube series Parsons created in 2022, which itself was inspired by a "creepypasta" horror image from the website 4chan. The concept depicts a bizarre, endless labyrinth of empty yellow-hued rooms—a liminal space where people can become randomly trapped. The movie follows a therapist who ventures into this dimension to find a missing patient.

Parsons' journey to directing a major studio film began with his web series, which amassed tens of millions of views and attracted Hollywood's attention. He was hired by A24 to direct the feature adaptation, marking him as the studio's youngest feature director. The production built approximately 30,000 square feet of physical sets to recreate the unsettling Backrooms environment.

Despite his rapid rise, Parsons recently faced online speculation questioning whether he...