The box office has not slowed down since the release of “Michael” nearly a month ago, and it’s not going to stop now. This weekend brings the arrival of A24/Chernin’s “Backrooms,” a film that is not only going to break A24’s all-time opening weekend record, it’s going to shatter it.
Admittedly, that record is pretty low given that A24 only recently committed to more frequent wide openings. The highest opening ever for the indie distributor belongs to Alex Garland’s “Civil War,” which launched to $25.5 million in 2024.
“Backrooms” could double that benchmark.
Current pre-release projections have 20-year-old Kane Parsons’ horror film starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve earning an opening weekend of at least $45 million, with a good chance at $50 million-plus if walk-ups exceed expectations even with another smash hit horror film, Focus Features’ “Obsession,” bringing in horror lovers en masse as it is expected to gross more in its third weekend than its $17 million opening.
“Backrooms” is the latest example of a film that is, technically speaking, not an original movie, but draws from a source material heavily removed from what Hollywood usually mines. Kane Parsons released a short film on YouTube in 2022 called “The Backrooms (Found Footage),” when he was just 16, based on creepypasta images from a 4chan image thread released several years prior.
The short went viral on YouTube and boosted the popularity of liminal space horror, a subgenre based on abandoned buildings, fluorescent lighting and empty hallways, as well as the sense of being trapped in such a space with no way out. The popularity of liminal spaces gave rise to video games such as the Japanese horror game “Exit 8,” which was adapted by Genki Kawamura into a film that premiered at Cannes last year and got a limited release from Neon earlier this year.
But no one has mined liminal spaces to greater pop culture notoriety than Parsons, who followed up his viral hit, which got 78 million views, with 23 more short films based on the Backrooms, developing an entire mythology of a space disconnected from reality that random victims phase into — or “noclip,” in video game parlance — and find themselves trapped inside.
Soon, Parsons moved beyond random victims and introduced a research facility called Async, founded in the ’80s to explore and understand the Backrooms to sometimes disastrous results.
Now, after four years of online filmmaking, Parsons has a full production budget (though still under $10 million) from A24 and Chernin Entertainment to bring his vision to its full potential, and the millions of fans he has amassed online are eager to see what he can make. Similar to online creators like “Iron Lung” director Markiplier, Parsons is making his big screen debut after building up a legion of followers online invested in him as an artist.
And that’s big for a film industry that, while starting to produce more films that are aimed primarily at Gen Z audiences, still isn’t serving that demographic as much as Millennials and Gen Xers were served in their 20s. With a new generation raised in a post-monoculture world, there’s only been a handful of “traditional” IP like “Five Nights at Freddy’s” that Hollywood has been able to adapt to box office success, instead often relying on introducing older IP like “Scream” and “Wicked” to younger moviegoers. Sometimes that has worked, other times not.
But films like “Iron Lung,” “Backrooms,” and potentially next weekend’s “The Amazing Digital Circus” are showing the blueprint on how to search the vast plains of internet culture for filmmakers and concepts worthy of the big screen that will get today’s under-30 crowd excited. There has been much talk in Hollywood over the past 10 years about how the basics of filmmaking are more accessible than ever, as directors can now shoot short films with iPhones and minimal production equipment.
But it is only now that we are starting to see directors like Parsons emerge from that DIY landscape to become big-time filmmakers. Though Parsons is new to Hollywood, he is by no means new to the world of horror, and “Backrooms” will likely be watched closely by the rest of the industry to see if the Creatorverse becomes the New Hollywood of the 21st century.
As for the box office, a $45 million-plus launch for “Backrooms” will greatly liven up what has historically been a weekend where the box office relies on Memorial Day holdovers. But with “The Mandalorian and Grogu” being the only major newcomer from this past weekend — and it could very well fall to No. 2 behind “Backrooms” with a $40 million second frame — the door is open for this fresh new title and director to leave their mark.
Elsewhere, several other movies will provide smaller support to the box office, including Nate Bargatze’s family comedy “The Breadwinner,” which is projected for an $8 million opening weekend. The film stars the standup comedian as a stay-at-home dad who struggles to care for his three daughters while his wife takes the job opportunity of a lifetime.
Produced by TriStar and The Wonder Project, “The Breadwinner” will have Bargatze’s fanbase to mine from, but will face the same challenge that original family films like “Goat,” “Hoppers,” and most recently “The Sheep Detectives” have faced: convincing cost-conscious families that they are worth the price of admission without a familiar IP to draw kids in. Unlike those films, “The Breadwinner” may not have critics to help them as only two of the eight reviews logged on Rotten Tomatoes at time of writing were positive. It will take post-release audience buzz for this film to find a foothold in the weeks ahead.
As for the ticket cost, Bargatze is appealing to those cost-conscious parents with a recently announced “Nate Rate” program, where participating theaters will offer family discount ticket prices for “The Breadwinner.” Several major theater chains including Cinemark, Harkins, Santikos and Alamo Drafthouse are among those who will participate, with discounts varying by location.
Also opening this weekend is “Pressure” a WWII true-story drama starring Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser and based on co-writer David Haig’s stage play of the same name. The film chronicles James Stagg, the RAF meteorologist who changed the course of world history by convincing General Dwight Eisenhower to postpone the D-Day invasions by a day to avoid a storm that could have resulted in mission failure.
Released by StudioCanal as part of the French studio’s efforts to expand its U.S. distribution presence, the film is projected for a $6 million opening and has an 87% Rotten Tomatoes score at time of writing.
