Christopher Nolan Says BACKROOMS and OBSESSION Prove Cinema Isn’t Dying

People have been predicting the death of movie theaters for a long time. Every time a new form of entertainment comes along, someone claims it's the end of cinema.

Christopher Nolan isn't buying it, and he thinks two breakout horror movies have just given everyone a pretty great reminder of why the theatrical experience still matters.

Backrooms and Obsession have become unlikely box office success stories. Both films were directed by filmmakers in their 20s who first built their careers on YouTube before making the leap to feature films.

Even more impressive, they pulled it off without massive Hollywood budgets, yet they've managed to leave plenty of bigger releases in the dust at the box office.

For Nolan, that's proof that audiences will always show up when filmmakers give them something they can't wait to experience on the big screen.

During a recent interview with BBC News, Nolan explained: “I think there are a lot of different ways to interest people in coming to the movies, and you see films, there’s some that you’ve seen, films like Backrooms and Obsession, made by very young filmmakers, connecting with their audience, getting young people into cinemas.”

He followed that up with another point that's easy to overlook whenever people start debating the future of theaters: “I mean, our biggest segment of viewers who are coming to the movies is young people in their 20s, and it always has been.”

That's a pretty encouraging takeaway. Younger filmmakers are making movies that younger audiences genuinely want to see, and they're proving you don't need a gigantic budget to create something people will leave the house for.

Nolan also pointed out that this conversation isn't anything new. Every generation seems convinced movies are about to disappear, yet they keep finding new ways to thrive.

He said: “So, I think ever since the 1950s, when television came along, there’s been this tendency in this media to always proclaim, you know, the death of movies and everything.

“What I hope to do, in the middle of all that, is try, and find a story I can command the resources for, use my opportunity to make a film that I haven’t made before and hopefully bring something fresh to the audience.”

Nolan has spent his career making films that feel like events, and now he's celebrating a new generation of filmmakers doing the same thing in their own way.

He's also not alone. Steven Spielberg recently praised Kane Parsons and Curry Barker for what they've accomplished with their first feature films, saying:

“I’m so happy for them. I think it’s so fantastic. I think it’s great that they had basically very little money, especially Obsession had under $1 million, and the other film had maybe 10 or nine, and they’re doing so well, and I just applaud them.”

Getting that kind of recognition from both Nolan and Spielberg is pretty incredible. It's also another reminder that Hollywood's next wave of filmmakers isn't necessarily coming through the traditional system anymore.

Some of them are building audiences online first, sharpening their storytelling skills, and then bringing those fans with them into theaters.

After the phenomenal success of Oppenheimer, which earned nearly $1 billion worldwide, Nolan is getting ready to bring audiences The Odyssey later this month. If anyone understands the value of creating movies people want to experience on the biggest screen possible, it's him.

If the success of Backrooms and Obsession tells us anything, it's that cinema isn't fading away. It's simply finding its next generation of storytellers, and that's pretty awesome to see.