“Backrooms” Director Kane Parsons Teases Sequel, 'Unfinished' Story Following Box Office Smash
“Backrooms” Director Kane Parsons Teases Sequel, 'Unfinished' Story Following Box Office Smash
Lily BrownWed, June 3, 2026 at 1:42 AM UTC
0
Kane Parsons attends the 'Backrooms' London Special Screening on May 19, 2026
Credit: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty
-
Kane Parsons, 20, became the youngest director of an A24 feature after gaining fame on YouTube with his Backrooms series
The film opened to $118 million in late May and is expected to earn $36 million in its second weekend despite strong competition
Parsons said he is planning future Backrooms projects with A24 and is seeking a screenwriting collaborator for a potential sequel
Kane Parsons is already teasing more Backrooms.
Parsons, 20, hinted that his breakout horror hit, released on May 29, could be just the beginning of a franchise. “I mean, I like to see it as the continuation of what already exists,” the director said in an interview with Rotten Tomatoes published on Sunday, May 31.
The comments come after the Indie film’s massive $118 million opening weekend. The movie follows a simple but unsettling premise: “A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom.” The story centers on a therapist who ventures into a reality-bending dimension after one of her patients disappears inside it, according to the film's IMDb.
Chiwetel Ejiofor in 'Backrooms'
Credit: Courtesy of A24
Backrooms stars Renate Reinsve, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell and Avan Jogia, with horror heavyweights James Wan, Shawn Levy and Osgood Perkins among the producers.
Parsons became the youngest director to ever hit No. 1 at the box office after first building an audience on YouTube through his Kane Pixels channel, according to multiple outlets. Between 2022 and 2025, he went viral with his Backrooms (Found Footage) series, inspired by the internet’s obsession with eerie “liminal spaces” and the Backrooms meme that exploded online after originating on 4chan in 2019.
His videos followed a fictional 1990s research organization attempting to document the endless, yellow-tinted maze known as the Backrooms. “When I started this project in 2022, narratively, I knew what it was going to be,” Parsons told Rotten Tomatoes in Sunday's interview. “But not knowing exactly like this would happen with it.”
The success has surpassed even his own expectations. “I had hopes, but this has been insane. This has been f---ing insane.”
Advertisement
Renate Reinsve in 'Backrooms'
Credit: Courtesy of A24
Backrooms made $7.66 million on Monday, June 1, marking the best Monday in R-rated films in June, surpassing The Conjuring 2, which made $4.3 million on June 13, 2016, per Deadline.
After some online speculation questioned how involved Parsons was during production, Duplass, 49, publicly defended the young filmmaker on social media. “Hmmm, with all due respect I don't remember seeing you on set,” he wrote on X. “When I was there, Kane was 100% in control. More so than many directors 3x his age.”
As for what’s next, Parsons says the story is far from finished.
“From the beginning, it’s been so important to me to know the ending of a story and to be working backwards from that,” he explained to Rotten Tomatoes “I guess that’s to say that, yes. There is a plan in line narratively for Backrooms. And no, it has not been completed.”
Parsons is already looking for a screenwriting collaborator for a potential sequel and his deal for future Backrooms projects remains with A24, sources told Deadline. No sequel has been officially greenlit and no cast attachments have been announced.
Backrooms is currently playing in theaters.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
