By Chris Snellgrove | Published
For horror fans, it's been one summer. Blockbusters love The Mandalorian and the Grogu again Supergirl floppy when spooky movies make money transfer punch. One of the most successful horror films was Back roomsmaking a terrible history: 19-year-old Kane Parsons became the youngest director to have a movie debut in the first place at the box office. The success of both Parsons and his film helped strengthen A24, the studio behind it Back roomsas a master of creativity and independent art. Unfortunately, they decided to burnish that reputation for the most predictable reason of all: money.
On July 15, a Reddit user posted visual proof that his Back rooms-the inspired shirt was pulled from Redbubble due to a copyright strike from “A24 Films, LLC.” The problem here is that the user was not selling an image from Parsons' film; rather, it was the image from the first viral photo that kicked off the whole Backrooms craze. Other users make similar claims that they are theirs Back rooms art and games brought down by A24. Now, the latest wrinkle in this strange story? Parsons himself convinced the studio to drop its copyright claims, effectively handing over the horror IP to the fans who made it.
Amazing Betrayal
At first glance, it may not be surprising that A24 went after for-profit creators. Back rooms. After all, they just released a movie of the same name, which quickly established itself as one of the biggest movies of the summer. It makes sense for a studio to protect its IP, right? However, the A24 doesn't actually have one Back rooms; they only carry the description they hired Kane Parsons to fix. When news of copyright claims began to spread online, it prompted fans to ask the obvious question: how does the studio have a legal standing on copyright? Back rooms non-film projects?
A24 has very deep pockets (never forget, it was created by entrepreneurs), causing fear that no one involved would dare to sue the company. That can create a chilling effect, preventing future creators from monetizing their interpretation of the Backrooms virus concept. It's an effectively fan-owned concept, and the studio had no right to threaten other content creators with copyright claims. At least, that's the sentiment shared by Backrooms fans around the world. And shared by the last person that no one expected: Back rooms director Kane Parsons! When he heard what the studio was allegedly doing, he made a promise to Reddit: “I'm looking into this. It shouldn't happen.”
Kane Parsons Bites The Hand That Feeds Him
Surprisingly, it appears that Parsons has spoken to the studio, and his requests have been successful. Recently, A24 has publicly backed away from any attempts to threaten Backrooms content that has nothing to do with the movie. In a statement, the studio wrote the following: “A24 does not claim ownership over the yellow wallpaper, the original post referring to it, or any public works created around it.” The statement concluded by expressing solidarity with future creators. “We will continue to support artists like Kane who are inspired by it.”
Thankfully, everything is fine in the end: soon after users started complaining about these copyright strikes, Kane Parsons himself intervened, making A24 back down in their war against fans. However, this incident will be remembered for a long time by the fans who once respected him in the studio. A24 established themselves as one of the greatest creators of intelligent horror films, and the success of Back rooms he made them appear to be champions of young voices with new ideas. But between the company's latest AI partnership with Google and recent attempts at alleged copyrights that don't even own yours, the studio is now looking to be the biggest enemy of original creators.
The ultimate spooky auteur studio away scarier than anything they've created? Now, that's what I call high horror!
