Ready to go back to the Backrooms? Well, A24 certainly is. As Kane Parsons' creepypasta inspired liminal space chiller Backrooms soars past the $330
Ready to go back to the Backrooms? Well, A24 certainly is. As Kane Parsons’ creepypasta inspired liminal space chiller Backrooms soars past the $330 million mark at the global box office, further cementing the horror movie‘s status as A24’s highest grossing movie yet, the studio has dug around its own backrooms and pulled out 15 more minutes of hazy horror goodness for fans. Yes, Backrooms: Everything Must Go Edition is coming to UK and US cinemas this weekend — as the below social media announcement from A24 shows:
Neither truly an extended or director’s cut of Backrooms, Parsons’ Everything Must Go Edition instead comes with an extra quarter-hour long “theatrically exclusive post-credit” sequence, as advertised in cinema listings. Whether this means we’ll be getting something newly created for the film, more of Renate Reinsve or Chiwetel Ejiofor’s characters’ journeys, or perhaps even some kind of cinema-exclusive extra episode of Parsons’ original Backrooms web series remains to be seen — but the hype for whatever it may be is very, very real. And, in all honesty, probably comes not a moment too soon for A24 after a somewhat turbulent week.
For those who may have missed the headlines, A24 found itself in warm water with fans earlier this week when it was revealed that the studio has accepted a $75 million investment from Google as part of a research partnership undertaken with the ultimate aim of developing fresh AI filmmaking tools. For many, this seemed to represent a betrayal of A24’s independent roots and artist-first model as a studio. And despite studio reps’ attempts to downplay any controversy (“We’d rather have a seat at the table than on the sidelines,” communications head Sophia Shin diplomatically told Wired earlier this week), the icky feeling hasn’t dissipated over the last few days — especially given that the studio’s most successful film hails from a staunch anti-AI filmmaker.
Still, A24 backing Parsons’ Backrooms with an extended rollout and a mid-run theatrical release update may go some way to reassuring cinemagoers that human art is going nowhere anytime soon. And regardless of what the future may or may not hold, more Backrooms, more Parsons, and more bums in cinema seats is always a good thing. Well, a good thing for us… less so for the needy unfortunate souls stuck in that sickly yellow purgatorial hellscape. Backrooms: Everything Must Go Edition hits cinemas on 3 July.
COMMENTS