The great Gen Z genre land grab is in full swing.Mere months after Obsession and Backrooms stormed the summer box office, Hollywood studios have been throwing millions at Internet-fluent horror filmmakers and online-native IP in a battle for the dollars, eyeballs and hearts (in that order) of Gen Z viewers.
The most urgent example today is Backrooms director Kane Parsons, whose $10 million film stands a A24’s top-grossing movie ever with $374 million globally. He is in the midst of a full-court press from multiple power players who want to secure the 21-year-old auteur’s future work.
As first reported by Puck, sources confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that in recent weeks, Warner Bros. bosses Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy flew to Parsons’ home in the Bay Area, where he lives with his mother, to court the filmmaker. On Thursday, he partook in a Zoom with HBO boss Casey Bloys and head of drama and HBO films Francesca Orsi, as the proposed deal with Warners would encompass film and TV.
Universal chief Donna Langley has also met with Parsons, after successfully wooing Obsession filmmaker Curry Barker for his next movie. A24, meanwhile, very much does not want to lose him, and per Puck is courting him for a Backrooms sequel as well as another original project.
