Backrooms is set to become A24’s highest grossing movie ever, taking the title from Timothée Chalamet’s hit, Marty Supreme.
In February, Josh Safdie’s tennis drama was ranked A24’s highest grossing worldwide release of all time, making more than $190 million globally. Before that, Alex Garland’s dystopian thriller, Civil War, was the studio’s biggest worldwide success at the box office.
Now, the new 4chan-inspired horror movie— directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons — will likely take that top spot. Backrooms, which was released in U.S. theaters May 29, is expected to make $25.7 million during its second weekend, bringing it to the $134.8 million mark domestically, according to Deadline.
The film has made $50.3 million internationally, which means it could earn more than $185 million worldwide by Sunday.
The expected achievement comes after Backrooms recorded the highest grossing opening weekend in the history of A24, making somewhere between $85 million and $90 million.
After only six days in theaters, it had already made $100 million, overtaking Marty Supreme as A24’s highest grossing movie at the domestic box office.
Backrooms, which stars Oscar-nominated actors Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor, is named after a concept that originated in the late 2010s.
It was inspired by an internet meme that took root on the image board 4chan, showing an eerie windowless room. The director, Kane Parsons, was a teenage sci-fi enthusiast who made homemade videos set in the “Backrooms” before A24 tapped him to direct the film adaptation.
Parsons told The Independent that he “was very paranoid” about choosing a studio before agreeing to work with A24, adding: “I think a big part of why I can now say things went really smoothly and really positively – and why I was able to retain a massive amount of creative control and leverage – is due to the specific people I worked with.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
These included Longlegs director Osgood Perkins, who has become a mentor to Parsons.
The film has been praised by critics and earned a glowing four-star review from The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey.
“It’s not the scariest, or even quite the smartest, horror you’ll see this year (it lacks the shock factor of the recent Obsession, written and directed by fellow YouTube graduate Curry Barker),” wrote Loughrey.
“Still, it’s mesmeric and wildly unique in a way I suspect will stand the test of time, since nothing else put to film feels this much like watching the collective Gen Z nightmare come to life – a half-confused grief over never having lived in the analogue era, an attraction to and fear of VHS infomercials, sofa stores, and TV dinner trays.”
