Directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, who created the "Backrooms" web series as a teenager, the movie's massive opening weekend haul is the largest ever for an original horror film and more than doubles A24's previous best domestic opening, according to Variety.

Parsons also becomes the youngest director ever to debut at number one with a feature film, the entertainment trade publication said.

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Starring Oscar nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, the movie follows a furniture shop owner (Ejiofor) who discovers a mysterious, labyrinthine complex underneath his store.

When the man goes missing, his therapist (Reinsve) steps inside the liminal space to try and find him.

Originating as a creepy shared story told online by ordinary internet users, the "Backrooms" universe erupts into American cinemas on Friday.

"I would have been 13 at the time. I do not recall the first time I saw it exactly, because it was very prevalent as a meme," Parsons told AFP.

He watched as posters' imagination developed the image into a "vaguely nostalgic and vaguely dreamlike but also very tangible science-fiction concept".

The original image was accompanied by a short piece of anonymous text, warning readers against stumbling into its disturbing parallel world.

It quickly became a so-called "creepypasta" -- a short horror story reposted and modified around the web, to which other users added details such as monsters and undiscovered dimensions.

"This project is obviously bigger than me," feeding on the input of countless other online posters, Parsons acknowledged.

It was only in 2024 that online sleuths tracked down the original photo to a 2002 renovation of a furniture store in Wisconsin.

Before that, in 2022, Parsons shared a short film to his YouTube channel that he had made with the 3D software Blender.

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It depicted a young boy wandering lost through the Backrooms' terrifying corridors.

Within two weeks, the video had racked up 20 million views.

"I started getting emails from a whole bunch of different companies," Parsons remembers.

"I was 16... it was all very new and I was very sceptical of what it could mean to try and adapt this or to be engaging with suits" from Hollywood, he added -- especially on "something that I cared so personally about".

Parsons finally reached a deal with two production companies and A24, with filming taking place in summer 2025.

British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the protagonist in what became Parsons' first full-length director's credit.

"There was no version of this where I wasn't the one directing that I would personally be open to," he said. "I've always been very stingy about that."

On his YouTube channel, Kane Pixels, Parsons today has more than three million subscribers, with more than 215 million views for the 20 or so videos related to "Backrooms" alone.

Extended universe 

The film is "in direct continuity with the YouTube series", Parsons said.

It alternates between "found footage" segments filmed in first person that resemble his web show, and more classic filmic shots.

"It's going to be weird seeing how much ('Backrooms') has dropped into the mainstream... Formerly this has been semi-niche," he mused.

Parsons's work is not the only internet-spawned universe to hit cinemas this year.

YouTuber Mark Fischbach, whose channel Markiplier boasts 38 million subscribers, released the horror movie "Iron Lung" in January.

The film was adapted from a video game he helped popularise with online clips.

And in 2018, another "creepypasta" about the gangly, besuited monster "Slender Man" was turned into a feature film that raked in $50 million worldwide.

As for Parsons, "'Backrooms' is not done", he said.

"I wouldn't rule out film. I wouldn't rule out even television series. That would be my personal hope."

He has meanwhile launched another series on YouTube, "The Oldest View", which follows the exploration of an abandoned subterranean shopping mall.

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