Kane Parsons was 16 and living in Petaluma, California when he uploaded his first Backrooms video to YouTube. He made it at home using Blender, free 3D animation software. He had no film school training. The videos racked up 77 million views.
Four years later, his debut feature opened at number one at the domestic box office over Memorial Day weekend. It earned $81 million domestically in its first weekend. Worldwide it has crossed $360 million on a budget of roughly $10 million. That makes it the biggest box office performer in A24's history.
Parsons is 20 now. He directed Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve. A24 is negotiating a deal worth $65 million over three years, with a Backrooms sequel included.
The original YouTube series is still up. The bedroom where he made those first videos has the same bad air conditioning.
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