Chris Ferguson has had a busy Monday after Backrooms, the $10 million Vancouver-shot and produced adaptation by Kane Parsons of his viral YouTube short films series pulled in a $118 million opening weekend in global ticket sales.
“I have never gotten so many calls with interest in my company,” Ferguson told The Hollywood Reporter via another phone call where, as is his habit, he walks the blocks round his home while talking. “And on Saturday, which would not normally be a work day, I didn’t leave a three-block radius of my house and I walked 25,000 steps,” he added.
As he fields offers for new collaborations, Ferguson said his friends have gone beyond a betting pool on what his movies will do in opening weekend box office to taking bets on what his daily step count while Hollywood knocks on his door. “Because the phone doesn’t stop,” he insists.
But when we get round to talking about Kane Parsons, 20, who Atomic Monster first flagged to his Vancouver-based production banner Oddfellows Pictures, Ferguson has little time to talk about his youth. “The story that he is young was interesting to me for about 24 hours, until I really got to have a moment to mind-meld with him. At that point, the story really became I was dealing with somebody who is so wildly intelligent and curious and it was just unlike anybody else that I’ve worked with,” Ferguson recalled.
