Hollywood Turns 13 Internet-Born Stories Into Films as Webtoons and Creepypastas Feed Studios
Updated
Updated · The A.V. Club · Jun 3
Hollywood Turns 13 Internet-Born Stories Into Films as Webtoons and Creepypastas Feed Studios
3 articles · Updated · The A.V. Club · Jun 3
Summary
At least 13 feature films highlighted in the latest survey began online, underscoring a growing studio pipeline from blogs, YouTube shorts, webcomics and social-media phenomena to theaters.
Backrooms, a summer horror film that started as a creepypasta, exemplifies why studios are mining internet culture: online platforms now serve as a public proving ground for ideas and creators.
That pipeline stretches back more than 20 years, with early examples including Julie & Julia, adapted partly from Julie Powell’s blog, and Undercover Brother, which began as a web cartoon.
Warner Bros. has already announced a new animated-film deal tied to South Korea’s Webtoon platform, signaling that internet-native intellectual property is becoming a more formal part of Hollywood development.