The horror film "Backrooms," directed by 20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons, premiered in North America over the May 29-31 weekend and earned $81.5 million, breaking A24's record for an opening weekend [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. It played in 3,442 theaters and attracted predominantly young audiences—86% under age 35 and over half under 25—with many repeat viewings leading to sold-out cinemas [1, 4, 5].

Produced with a budget of $10 million by Blumhouse-Atomic Monster and executive producers including James Wan and Shawn Levy, the film grossed $118 million worldwide in its first week [1, 6, 2, 3, 7, 5]. In Taiwan, where it opened May 27, "Backrooms" took in roughly 26.9 million TWD (about $860,000) in five days, the highest opening ever for an A24 film there [8, 9].

"Backrooms" is based on a viral urban legend and evolved from Parsons’ YouTube shorts that he began making at age 16; he set aside college plans to create his first feature with A24 [1, 6, 2, 10, 7, 5]. Parsons started working in visual effects at 11 and is now the youngest director to top the global box office, surpassing the previous record held by Josh Trank at 27 years old [2, 3, 7, 11].

The film explores psychological horror themes of escape, trauma, and a supernatural liminal space called the "Backrooms," ending ambiguously to invite interpretation, Parsons said: “那絕對不是一場夢” ("That is definitely not a dream") [2]. Blumhouse-Atomic Monster CEO Abhijay Prakash called the film "a significant milestone" and a "true turning point" for the company [5]. Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian said, "Everyone is asking what Hollywood's next big event is to get audiences back to theaters. This might be the answer" [5].

Jason Blum said: "The weekend’s No. 1 and No. 2 box office were Blumhouse and Atomic Monster titles with shockingly low budgets. Theaters were packed. It’s a great time to be making horror movies!" [4]. Actor Mark Duplass praised Parsons as having command greater than directors three times his age [10]. Another YouTuber-directed horror film, "Obsession," also performed well, signaling a trend of young digital creators succeeding in horror cinema [1, 12, 4].

Despite the box office success, audience scores were mixed, with a CinemaScore of B- indicating divided reactions, though critics reportedly gave "Backrooms" around 90% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes [1, 6].

Parsons plans to expand "Backrooms" into a broader series or anthology, moving beyond horror into techno-thriller and relationship drama genres [2].