A24 files lawsuit: Is Hollywood stealing the Backrooms meme?

[11:00 Mon,20.July 2026 ï¿½ by Thomas Richter] ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½

Kane Parsons&[Backrooms](www.slashcam.de/news/single/Backrooms---vom-Internet-Meme-zum-200-Millionen-Do-20055.html) has been in theaters since the end of May (the German release was June 17) and is a massive success: the film has now grossed around 360 million dollars worldwide—making it, by a wide margin, the most successful film in the history of the independent studio A24, and all on a budget of only about 10 million dollars.

The basis for the film is a photo posted anonymously on the internet forum 4chan in 2019, showing a pale yellow, neon-lit, deserted backroom, which became an internet meme thanks to the comment of another anonymous user. Kane Parsons, then only 17 years old, produced a short film based on the meme in 2022, rendered largely in Blender, which he released on YouTube—a viral hit that has since garnered over 80 million views. A24 took notice and offered the now 18-year-old Parsons the chance to direct a Backrooms feature film, which was then produced with a budget of around 10 million dollars.

The concept of the Backrooms itself, however, was developed collectively by many users online and, since that first photo, has become a source of crowd-creativity that has spawned ever-new variations of images, games, a dedicated fantastic-encyclopedic website, and much more. And the variations of the meme, seen by millions over the years, not only made the Backrooms meme big but are also partly responsible for the film&s success: thanks to the meme, it isn&t just some horror film by an unknown, but was eagerly awaited by millions who were already long familiar with the eerie world of the Backrooms.

A24 sends copyright strikes against fan works

One would think A24 would be happy about this symbiotic relationship with an internet meme: the film benefits from its popularity, and the community of Backrooms fans receives more content. But the film studio does not seem to see it that way and, according to the magazine *Kotaku*, apparently wants to be the master of the inherently copyright-free Backrooms meme from now on. Several cases have now come to light online in which "A24 Films LLC" has filed copyright complaints against developers of Backrooms games and against artists.

For example, an artist reported on Reddit that A24 had his Backrooms wallpaper designs, which were inspired by the original 2019 image, removed from the print-on-demand platform Redbubble via a copyright claim—designs that, according to him, were not based on the film or its merchandise. The indie studio Davilkus Games was hit even harder: its developers reported three copyright strikes in early July, which resulted in their Google Play developer account being suspended; their game "Exit the Backrooms: Level 94" had to be renamed to "Liminal Complex: Level 94." According to Davilkus, at least three other small indie developers were affected by a silent wave of deletions of their Backrooms games that same morning—larger studios with Backrooms games were conspicuously spared. Mind you: these strikes are hitting works that are not based on the copyrighted images of the film, but rather emerged independently and, in some cases, long before the film as part of the Backrooms meme. A24 has not yet responded to a request from *Kotaku* as to whether the claims actually originated from the studio.

Who owns an internet meme?

This seems to be the start of a fundamental conflict: the internet makes a meme big, a film studio produces a film based on it—and then claims copyright over the meme itself. An inherently absurd process, because (anonymous) memes are per se copyright-free and are precisely why they are constantly spun further by many co-creators; it is only through mutually inspiring ideas and endless variations that they become big in the first place.

The photo where it all began

If the commercial exploitation logic of a film studio were to take hold and be legally enforced here, it would be the end of Hollywood&s fruitful relationship with the web as a source of new and successful film ideas: the symbiosis would turn into a parasitic relationship—and all fans of a meme would have to fear its film adaptation because it would mean its end. From the perspective of classic Hollywood exploitation logic, A24&s motivation is understandable—but it completely fails to recognize that the film produced by A24 did not create the Backrooms meme, but rather profits from it.

At least: Kane Parsons himself has since intervened and commented in the relevant Reddit thread that he is looking into the matter—this "should not be happening." It remains to be hoped that he can explain to the studio&s lawyers what a bad move insisting on a copyright for the Backrooms would be—a major shitstorm from their own fanbase would be the foreseeable consequence.

ï¿½more infos at bei kotaku.com

deutsche Version dieser Seite: Klaut Hollywood das Backrooms-Meme?