With Backrooms securing the biggest ever domestic opening for an original horror film, Hollywood is looking to short stories on Reddit for the next hit. One agency has told The Hollywood Reporter they have identified “a bunch” of ideas.
Kane Parsons’ liminal horror sensation has grossed over $250 million at the global box office on a budget of only $10 million. The 20-year-old director adapted his own YouTube web series, which was in turn inspired by a Creepypasta posted to 4chan.
“[Reddit] is almost a real-time IP incubator of sorts, with moderators and communities that are cultivating these spaces where stories and fandoms can grow organically,” Reddit chief marketing officer Jim Squires told THR. “I think of Reddit as the most powerful focus group that’s ever existed.”
An adaptation of Joe Cote’s Reddit short story “I Pretended to Be a Missing Girl” is in development at Warner Bros. Sydney Sweeney is starring and producing, while Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Dune) is penning the script.
Hollywood is equally looking to YouTube filmmakers who have a deep understanding of their audience, especially after the unparalleled success of Curry Barker’s indie horror phenomenon Obsession. “YouTube taught me through the comments that a modern horror audience is actually very smart,” Barker told Phantasmag. “So let’s not treat them like they’re dumb.”
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