Rebellion by a 20-Year-Old YouTuber That Shook Hollywood…‘The Backrooms’ Tops U.S. Box Office

Internet abyss legends swallow the screen in a visual revolution

The overwhelming mise-en-scène of 'The Backrooms', which perfectly captures an unknown dread. A city creepypasta that once roamed the digital ecosystem has finally shattered the hard box-office barrier of Hollywood. With 'The Backrooms'—an experimental horror film—reaching No. 1 at North American theaters on its opening day, it is triggering a tectonic shift the mainstream film world has never seen.

A rebellion by a 20-year-old genius born from the YouTube algorithm... the 'The Backrooms' frenzy sweeping North American theaters

According to industry data released by U.S. entertainment outlet Variety, 'The Backrooms' pulled off an astronomical opening score of $38.41 million (about 57.9 billion won in Korean currency) in just one day—Sept. 29 (local time), its opening day. The figure thoroughly outpaced other releases playing during the same period and marks the highest opening-run box-office performance for the studio 'A24' since its founding. Local distributors and critics are watching closely, saying the blockbuster-like momentum is expected to push cumulative revenue past $60 million for the opening weekend.

Traps of endless yellow mazes, the astonishing return of 1990s analog horror

The film takes the 1990s as its period setting, spotlighting in detail the strange ordeal of Clark, an ordinary furniture sales representative ('Chiwetel Ejiofor'), who is sucked into a mysterious space that splits open like a crack in a corner of the store. Praise has followed for how the film weaves, at a near-perfect level, the essence of the 'The Backrooms' universe that swept online—through the old wallpaper and fluorescent light noise that repeat without an exit and the intense psychological pressure created by that monotony.

20-year-old 'Kane Parsons' breaks Hollywood grammar, blurring the lines between new media and legacy media

At the heart of why global media are focusing on this box-office surge is the unconventional track record of 'Kane Parsons', who held the megaphone. At just 20 years old this year, he comes from the world of YouTube creators, with no formal film education and no experience directing in Hollywood.

He independently planned and produced 22 fake documentary videos ranging from 2 minutes to 45 minutes in length, using the original creepypasta as a motif, driving cumulative views to 25 million, and winning absolute support for his work in the digital ecosystem. In other words, that explosive viral energy is meeting capital and laying down a new box-office formula for commercial films.

He nailed both mainstream appeal and artistic quality. On Rotten Tomatoes, the biggest review site in North America, 'The Backrooms' drew overwhelming praise with a critics' freshness score of 90 out of 100, while the audience popcorn score also landed at 74—cementing its position as a well-made horror movie.