Backrooms is no longer just an internet horror story. It is now A24’s biggest box office opening.
The Kane Parsons-directed horror film earned $38.4 million on opening day from 3,442 North American theaters and is projected to reach about $90 million for the weekend, according to TheWrap. That would easily break A24’s previous wide-release opening record, set by Civil War with $25.5 million in 2024.
The opening also places Backrooms among the biggest horror debuts in domestic box office history. TheWrap reported that a $90 million weekend would rank behind only It and It: Chapter Two among horror openings.
Kane Parsons Went From YouTube to a Studio Record
Backrooms is based on Parsons’ viral YouTube series The Backrooms (Found Footage), which grew out of internet lore around eerie “liminal spaces.” People reported that Parsons became A24’s youngest-ever director with the movie, which opened in theaters May 29.
The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell and Avan Jogia. Its producing team includes James Wan, Shawn Levy and Osgood Perkins.
The scale of the debut makes Parsons’ jump from online creator to theatrical filmmaker unusually fast. People reported that he was still in high school when Hollywood offers began coming in for a feature version of Backrooms.
The Movie Beat Early Box Office Expectations
The size of the opening grew quickly during the week. TheWrap reported Friday that Backrooms earned $10.4 million from Thursday previews and was then tracking for a $75 million-plus weekend.
That was already far above earlier projections. Before release, the film had been expected to break A24’s opening record with a launch around $45 million to $50 million, according to several box office tracking reports.
Instead, strong previews, presales and opening-day traffic pushed the movie toward a much larger debut. The $38.4 million opening day put Backrooms on pace to more than triple A24’s previous opening-weekend high.
A24 Found a Horror Hit in Internet Culture
The breakout matters because Backrooms did not come from a traditional horror franchise. It came from a YouTube series, a creepypasta concept and a young online audience already familiar with the mood and imagery of the Backrooms.
That audience appears to have translated into theatrical demand. The original online concept centered on unsettling, empty spaces that feel ordinary and wrong at the same time; the movie expands that idea into a feature built around a strange doorway in a furniture showroom.
For A24, the result is a box office milestone. For Hollywood, it is another sign that internet-native horror can move beyond viral clips and become a theatrical event when the source material already has a real fan base.