A24 Continues to Innovate and Revolutionize the Film Industry with Upcoming Backrooms Release
On Thursday, A24's highly anticipated psychological sci-fi horror Backrooms (2026) will release to theaters nationwide.
A 20-year-old Kane Parsons makes his feature film directorial debut.
In 2022, a teenage Parsons released "The Backrooms (Found Footage)" on his YouTube channel, Kane Pixels. The nine-minute video has now accumulated 78 million views.
Inspired by video titles like Portal and Minecraft.
Parsons continued to self-produce and direct more Backrooms-themed videos set in distinct, creepy luminal spaces. All of these videos have garnered millions of views on YouTube as Parsons began to fuel a cult following.
Four years later, Backrooms, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, and Mark Duplass, has been adapted to a full-length feature film thanks to A24.
A24 started in 2012 as a distribution company; it has slowly evolved to distribute self-produced feature-length films. Over the years, A24 has made a name for itself for its eerie and atypical premises, distinguished lighting, and thrilling concepts.
Today, A24 has securely emerged into the limelight with roughly 200 released films, including award-winning films such as Moonlight (2016), Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), and Marty Supreme (2025).
Parsons has become the youngest director in A24 history.
In the past, A24 has offered directional debuts to young, future star directors, like the Safdie brothers.
A24 produced and distributed Good Time (2017), a crime film with Robert Pattinson as the lead actor. The brothers made their directorial debut at age 33, Josh Safdie, and age 31, Benny Safdie.
Two years later, the Safdies returned to A24, directing the iconic crime, thriller Uncut Gems (2019) starring Adam Sandler, Julia Fox and NBA legend Kevin Garnett.
Since Benny directed The Smashing Machine (2025) and Josh directed the aforementioned Marty Supreme.
Another popular director that was given his directorial debut by A24 is Robert Eggers.
Revered for his bold black-and-white film style, Eggers was 32-years-old for his full-feature film debut of the folk horror The Witch (2015).
Eggers has gone on to direct several A24 horror films: The Lighthouse (2019), The Northman (2022), and Nosferatu (2024). His next film is slated for release in December with A24.
A24 has a proven eye for young, talented directors.
Parsons could be A24's budding star director, adding another chapter to their 21st-century dominant run.
Despite being a known horror dispiser, I'm extremely excited to see Backrooms at my local theater on Thursday. I hope A24 has found another gem.
