{"id":69041,"date":"2026-07-01T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=69041"},"modified":"2026-07-01T17:14:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T08:14:01","slug":"backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/","title":{"rendered":"Backrooms&#8217; Japanese movie poster sparks debate after ditching the original&#8217;s minimalist design for\u00a0\u201ctacky\u201d\u00a0cluttered redesign\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Japanese fans\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0be able to see Kane Parsons\u2019\u00a0<strong>Backrooms<\/strong>\u00a0in local theaters until September 4,\u00a0A24\u00a0and Japanese distributor\u00a0Happinet\u00a0Phantom Studios have\u00a0already started marketing the movie in anticipation of its\u00a0premiere. However, unlike the movie\u2019s\u00a0posters\u00a0in\u00a0other countries,\u00a0which feature\u00a0actress Renate Reinsve\u00a0suffocatingly packed into a corner\u00a0while\u00a0most of the image\u00a0is\u00a0taken up by an empty, yellow wall, the Japanese poster\u00a0stands out for being\u00a0quite\u00a0visually\u00a0cluttered, and as\u00a0some\u00a0Japanese\u00a0people on Twitter put it, \u201clame.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u30a2\u30e1\u30ea\u30ab\u7248\u30dd\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc\u3001\u97d3\u56fd\u7248\u30dd\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc\u3001\u53f0\u6e7e\u7248\u30dd\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc\u3001\u3053\u308c\u3089\u306e\u4e16\u754c\u4e2d\u306e\u30dd\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc\u306f\u30b7\u30f3\u30d7\u30eb\u3067\u30aa\u30b7\u30e3\u30ec\u306a\u306e\u306b\u3001\u65e5\u672c\u306e\u30d0\u30c3\u30af\u30eb\u30fc\u30e0\u30ba\u306e\u30dd\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc\u3060\u3051\u3084\u3063\u3071\u6587\u5b57\u6570\u591a\u304f\u60c5\u5831\u91cf\u904e\u591a\u3067\u30c0\u30b5\u304f\u306a\u308b\ud83d\ude05 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EM8dQNtKOV\">https:\/\/t.co\/EM8dQNtKOV<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Glj62rFKG5\">pic.twitter.com\/Glj62rFKG5<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u10e4\u10d0\u10e5\u10e2\u10d8 (@para_bellum390) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/para_bellum390\/status\/2071397783232508286?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>&#8220;The US, Korean poster and Taiwanese posters are simple and stylish, but the Japanese Backrooms poster, as expected, has so much text and information that it looks lame.<\/em>&#8220;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The topic has brought attention to how many\u00a0Japanese movie posters tend to follow the philosophy of\u00a0\u201ctell, don\u2019t show\u201d rather than the opposite.\u00a0For example, promotional materials of\u00a0overseas\u00a0hits such as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/slope004603\/status\/2071574132303843743?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Parasite<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/matsu_ken_smap\/status\/2071507486440653295?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">La La Land<\/a>\u00a0had their\u00a0subtle\u00a0original\u00a0designs edited in favor of more text\/image-heavy and (in the case of Parasite) censored versions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Japanese cultural critic, novelist, and philosopher\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hazuma\/status\/2071613045374435759?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hiroki Azuma<\/a>, this\u00a0\u201csymptom\u201d\u00a0is deeply rooted in the country\u2019s culture and can be seen everywhere, from the lengthy titles of\u00a0isekai\u00a0light novels to tabloid TV programs filled with on-screen text and captions.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kazenokurage\/status\/2071929894989128094?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">One comment<\/a> from a\u00a0former film industry designer states\u00a0that while designers want to make posters look cool and subtle, distribution companies are more focused on advertising everything the film has to offer and cramming in as much information as possible\u00a0(this can also be seen in Backrooms\u2019 Japanese trailer).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u300e\u30d0\u30c3\u30af\u30eb\u30fc\u30e0\u30ba\u300f30\u79d2\u4e88\u544a\u7de8\uff5c9\u67084\u65e5\uff08\u91d1\uff09\u516c\u958b\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Jb2PnLKscus?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given that Backrooms is a movie about liminal spaces, where the concept of emptiness creates a sense of uncanniness and dread,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0understandable why some Japanese fans\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/L_lily_Porter\/status\/2071377767133036791?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prefer the original poster design<\/a>. That said, simplistic Japanese movie posters do exist. The Exit 8 movie, for instance,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-exit-8-movie-wins-best-poster-design-award-at-cannes-film-festival\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">won the Best Poster Design award<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0last year\u2019s\u00a0Cannes Film Festival\u00a0for its \u201cminimalist, yet striking design.\u201d Interestingly,\u00a0that poster also positions its main protagonist against a yellow background and is likewise based on a video game\u00a0focused\u00a0on the concept of liminal spaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Backrooms&#8217; redesigned poster for the Japanese market has people understandably divided.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":69044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2","date":"2026-07-01T14:00:07+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mplohyq4yb2h","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mplohyq4yb2h\",\"cid\":\"bafyreieta4wurkwyof33whf4alrxvuqq5j5pbqie4qky64vl567o4m75iy\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreia55eh7cqqyaq2wntcgiapfkaesavotposftlhne62yrkdrlphfqm\",\"rev\":\"3mplohyqavb2h\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-69041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Backrooms&#039; Japanese movie poster sparks debate after ditching the original&#039;s minimalist design for\u00a0\u201ctacky\u201d\u00a0cluttered redesign\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Backrooms&#039; redesigned poster for the Japanese market has people understandably divided.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Backrooms&#039; Japanese movie poster sparks debate after ditching the original&#039;s minimalist design for\u00a0\u201ctacky\u201d\u00a0cluttered redesign\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Backrooms&#039; redesigned poster for the Japanese market has people understandably divided.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-01T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260701-69041-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"934\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; Zotomayor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; Zotomayor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Backrooms' Japanese movie poster sparks debate after ditching the original's minimalist design for\u00a0\u201ctacky\u201d\u00a0cluttered redesign\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Backrooms' redesigned poster for the Japanese market has people understandably divided.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Backrooms' Japanese movie poster sparks debate after ditching the original's minimalist design for\u00a0\u201ctacky\u201d\u00a0cluttered redesign\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Backrooms' redesigned poster for the Japanese market has people understandably divided.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-07-01T14:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1530,"height":934,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260701-69041-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31"},"headline":"Backrooms&#8217; Japanese movie poster sparks debate after ditching the original&#8217;s minimalist design for\u00a0\u201ctacky\u201d\u00a0cluttered redesign\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-07-01T14:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/"},"wordCount":393,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260701-69041-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News","Non-Gaming News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/","name":"Backrooms' Japanese movie poster sparks debate after ditching the original's minimalist design for\u00a0\u201ctacky\u201d\u00a0cluttered redesign\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260701-69041-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-01T14:00:00+00:00","description":"Backrooms' redesigned poster for the Japanese market has people understandably divided.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260701-69041-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260701-69041-header.jpg","width":1530,"height":934},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/backrooms-japanese-movie-poster-sparks-debate-after-ditching-the-originals-minimalist-design-for-tacky-cluttered-redesign\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Backrooms&#8217; Japanese movie poster sparks debate after ditching the original&#8217;s minimalist design for\u00a0\u201ctacky\u201d\u00a0cluttered redesign\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31","name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","caption":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor"},"description":"Automaton West writer. Zoto has been playing video games for 30+ years now but has only recently come to grips with PC gaming. When he isn't playing video games, he watches romance anime and gets mad when his best girl never wins.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/carlos-zotomayor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69041"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69043,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69041\/revisions\/69043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}