Mark Duplass appears in a Zurich Summit conversation where Kane Parsons drew a line around Backrooms: he said he does not view it as a horror project and is already working on the sequel. That matters because the film has already become a $400 million grossing A24 title, so the way it is labeled now could shape how the next one is sold.
Zurich Summit on Saturday
At the Zurich Summit on Saturday, Parsons said, "I don't view it as a horror project." He also said, "I'm gonna try to stay as oblivious to those labels as possible," and added, "I think I have more creative control now with future projects."
That is the practical shift for the director: the first Backrooms arrived through a YouTube-originated path, but Parsons is now talking about the sequel from a position of greater control. He said, "So those sort of structures will probably be a little less forceful, I think, in the future."
$400 million and the framing
The $400 million gross gives the franchise its leverage, and it also explains why the marketing label has become part of the story. Parsons said the horror framing is "just naturally in the path of least resistance from a marketing perspective and is what seems comfortable to people as a framing device," which puts the commercial script at odds with his own view of the project.
Bill Kramer used the same panel to describe Backrooms as an example of fandoms moving from YouTube to cinemas. He said, "It was the first time that we saw [that]," and added, "Young people want to go back to movie theaters."
Robbie Brenner on Barbie
Robbie Brenner kept the panel’s sequel talk pointed. She said, "Look, we all wanna have a 'Barbie' sequel," and added, "We all want it to happen."
That leaves the industry with a clear read: Backrooms is already being treated as a sequel-driven property, but Parsons is signaling that the follow-up may not be boxed in by the same label used to sell the first film. For readers tracking the project, the useful takeaway is simple — the sequel is underway, and the creative rules around it are already changing.
