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There has not been a single major industry event in the last three months where major producers and execs have not brought up the phenomenon of Kane Parsons’ “Backrooms” and Curry Barker’s “Obsession.” The two films,
directed by 20-something-year-olds who came from YouTube, exploded all box-office expectations while ushering in droves of Gen Z audiences back to cinemas. As the industry rushes to try to understand how to capitalize on that momentum, Parsons is already looking ahead.
The young director, who is already working on the sequel to the $400 million grossing A24 film, told an audience of industry insiders at Zurich Summit on Saturday that he didn’t direct the adaptation of his own YouTube analog web series as a “horror film.” “I don’t view it as a horror project. I think that’s just naturally in the path of least resistance from a marketing perspective and is what seems comfortable to people as a framing device.”
“I’m gonna try to stay as oblivious to those labels as possible,” he added. “I think I have more creative control now with future projects. So those sort of structures will probably be a little less forceful, I think, in the future.”
Speaking of sequels, fellow Zurich Summit panellist Robbie Brenner, president and chief content officer at Mattel Studios, was asked about a possible sequel to Greta Gerwig’s smash hit “Barbie.” Her answer was brief but positive: “Look, we all wanna have a ‘Barbie’ sequel. I mean, who doesn’t wanna see the sequel to ‘Barbie’? And I’m sure at some point in time there will be one. We all want it to happen. We’ll see.”
Young maverick Parsons stood as the spokesperson for his generation in a panel next to industry titans: Brenner as well as Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, and Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Parsons said he did not want to make it “too much of an age thing” but that there is a clear “appetite” for the theatrical experience at the moment.
Parsons believes audiences see “Backrooms” as a “pre-existing but decentralized IP presence online” and he thinks “people are looking for that newness, that sort of detachment from more cyclical cultural icons that keep eating themselves.”
Kramer jumped in to say how “Backrooms” was an amazing example of fandoms travelling from YouTube to cinemas. “It was the first time that we saw [that].”
“Young people want to go back to movie theaters,” he added. “Fandoms shift; theatrical can inform a fandom, YouTube can inform a theatrical fandom. It’s all connected in a way that I don’t think we thought was possible. And that, for me, was a big takeaway of this summer. And it gives me great hope for the film industry because we’re seeing young people come back to the movies, and that’s really key.”
When Parsons brought up the notion that people around his age “gravitate toward short-form material,” Kramer intercepted to say it is “reductive,” to which the director said: “Yes, it is reductive.”
“Young people want to go back to movie theaters. Fandoms shift; theatrical can inform a fandom, YouTube can inform a theatrical fandom. It’s all connected in a way that I don’t think we thought was possible. And that, for me, was a big takeaway of this summer. And it gives me great hope for the film industry because we’re seeing young people come back to the movies, and that’s really key.”
“I feel like the sentiment is more that this is weaponized. This algorithmically incentivized [reality] is not really something I think most people enjoy about their own wiring. They don’t love that their attention spans are being sucked into the spiral of mostly consuming stuff that is that short. Going into a closed room without outsider interference […] lowers the tempo in a way that is refreshing.”
Barker compared the “Obsession” and “Backrooms” summer to the industry shift caused by Dennis Hopper’s “Easy Rider” in the 70s. “‘Easy Rider’ came out in the middle of the Vietnam War, in the middle of a right-wing presidency. It spoke to young people; they responded in huge numbers, and it affected the movies that were gonna be made afterwards.”
“I think this is that moment, this summer with ‘Obsession’ and ‘Backrooms,’” he said.
Kramer also spoke about YouTube, especially the multi-year agreement that grants the online platform exclusive global rights to stream the Oscars live and free worldwide. The deal will begin in 2029 and run through 2033.
Asked if it was a good deal, the CEO smiled and said: “A very good deal. We are a nonprofit, so this also allows us to sustain our great work,” he added.
