‘Obsession', ‘Backrooms' gets Christopher Nolan's seal of approval

Christopher Nolan has added his voice to the growing chorus of praise for breakout horror films Obsession and Backrooms, singling out their young directors as evidence that cinema is in good hands.

In a new interview with The Telegraph promoting his upcoming epic The Odyssey, Nolan pointed to Curry Barker and Kane Parsons as proof that "things are on the right track" for the film industry. 

"I think cinema is vital and essential and continues to transform itself," he said. 

"We've got all these great new young voices in movies, making the medium their own and moving it forward."

The results back him up. 

Barker's Obsession, released on 15 May, has grossed more than $400 million globally on a budget of just $750,000, becoming the highest-grossing festival acquisition of all time after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and Focus Features' biggest release ever.

Parsons' Backrooms has surpassed $350 million globally and is A24's highest-grossing film in several countries, while Parsons, 21, became the youngest director ever to top the domestic box office.

Nolan was particularly struck by the kind of audiences these films are drawing. 

"This is why I never bought into the arguments that young audiences' attention spans are too fried to enjoy a three-hour Greek epic," he said.

"Those films are so mysterious and ruminative. I mean, parts of Backrooms are like David Lynch at his most obscure. And yet young people can't get enough of them."

He also connected the success of these films to a broader generational rejection of AI-generated content. 

"I've never seen a more rapid wholesale dismissal of a supposedly foundational jump in technology in my lifetime," Nolan said, adding that his own children, now in their late teens and early twenties, have been quick to identify and dismiss AI work. 

"Their judgment of AI slop has been immediate and harsh. They see it for what it is very quickly. After years of driving towards heavily virtual environments, we're seeing a renewed interest in more tactile, more real forms of storytelling."

That view is shared on the ground. 

One Gen Z filmgoer told The Hollywood Reporter: "Audiences in general, but especially audiences my age, are getting so overwhelmed by all of the CGI movies, the Marvel epidemic. It really deterred a lot of people from wanting to go and see these big-budget movies."

Nolan is not alone among legends championing the new wave. Steven Spielberg recently praised Obsession and applauded Barker for making it for under a million dollars.

Nolan's own The Odyssey, shot entirely in IMAX with a cast including Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o and Elliot Page, opens in cinemas on 17 July.