Backrooms director Kane Parsons is reportedly in talks with A24 for a 3-year first-look deal that could be worth upwards of $65 million, even as Warner Bros., Universal, and Sony set up meetings with him. In other words: the talent hunt is already crowded, and the winner gets the right to decide what comes next for one of 2026 horror's most bankable names.

This isn't just deal chatter. Backrooms hit screens in May 2026 and earned $374 million worldwide on a $10 million production budget. That kind of ratio makes studios sit up fast. It also helps explain why multiple “major” players are trying to get in the same room before the first-look paper is fully signed and the creative options get locked.

Under the hood, first-look deals are a way for studios to buy control of future projects while limiting risk. Instead of scouting after talent gets proven, a studio ties itself to a director early, often with a promise that the director will develop projects under the studio’s banner. According to the report, Parsons' A24 deal is still being negotiated, but the mention of a multi-year structure signals seriousness on both sides. It is also consistent with why A24, historically associated with lower-budget, high-impact genre fare, would be motivated to lock up a director who just demonstrated an ability to scale.

The Parsons story also fits a broader industry shift the source calls out: original movies with smaller budgets and new directors are outperforming major blockbusters. That isn't a subtle theme in 2026. Another example from the same ecosystem is Obsession, directed by fellow YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Curry Barker. It reportedly took over the big screen earlier this year and earned $428 million against a budget of less than $1 million. Meanwhile, the more expensive end of the spectrum includes The Mandalorian and Grogu, released around the same time, which scraped $340 million against a much larger budget of around $165 million, before marketing.

Executives should read those numbers as more than trivia. When budgets spread and outcomes diverge, boards and studios become more sensitive to how risk is being allocated. A $10 million horror production that returns $374 million changes internal underwriting conversations, especially around who is trusted to lead development and how quickly a studio wants to sign talent once traction appears. That, in turn, is what creates the “meetings” dynamic the source describes. Warner Bros., Universal, and Sony are not doing this because they suddenly love liminal creepiness. They are doing it because proven breakout directors can convert attention into box office, and first-look rights are one of the fastest ways to secure that conversion.

The Backrooms universe also has a built-in distribution advantage that studios increasingly chase: an audience that already exists online. Backrooms is based on a creepypasta first posted on 4chan and depicts a creepy liminal world. Kane Parsons expanded on it via his YouTube series in 2022, then turned that momentum into a feature. This matters because it lowers certain uncertainties studios typically carry when developing genre films. If a story already has a community, the creative bet can be paired with marketing instincts that follow the community’s language and hooks.

And A24's reported terms suggest it is thinking beyond “one hit.” As part of the deal, the report says A24 reportedly wants Parsons to make at least two more films under its banner, and one of those projects could be a Backrooms sequel. That detail is important because it turns a negotiation about a director’s next credit into a pipeline strategy. If Parsons delivers another Backrooms entry, the studio doesn't just win a single weekend. It can build a recognizable brand cycle around a filmmaker it effectively “acquired early,” even if the filmmaker originally came up through YouTube shorts.

The competitive pressure doesn't stop with Parsons. The source points to other YouTuber-to-feature transitions and similar creepypasta-to-film pipelines. Parsons and Curry Barker seem to have started a trend, the report says, and 22-year-old YouTuber Alex Kister has since signed on to direct an adaptation of his The Mandela Catalogue web series for Amazon’s United Artists label and Amblin. Another creepypasta, Siren Head, from artist Trevor Henderson, is also being made into a movie at Warner Bros. Taken together, this pattern signals that major studios are increasingly forced to compete not just for box office, but for authorship. The question is who gets to be the destination when creators with proven online followings start upgrading to long-form production.

For peers inside boards, finance teams, and strategy groups, the second-order takeaway is simple: first-look deals are becoming the battleground for returns. If A24 secures Parsons on a $65M+ scale and requires multiple films, other studios may feel pressure to match the structure or accept being late to the pipeline. If Parsons ends up prioritizing a sequel and additional projects under A24, Warner Bros., Universal, and Sony may have to recalibrate their development calendars and risk models around when “breakout” becomes “locked.” In a market where $1 million budgets can still produce $400M outcomes, the ability to pre-commit to the right creator fast may end up mattering as much as the movie itself.