A24/Chernin’s “Backrooms” is set to have one of the biggest opening weekends ever in horror history, earning $10.4 million from Thursday preview screenings in 3,442 locations as independent projections now have the film earning a $75 million weekend.
According to theatrical sources, presales and interest in Kane Parsons’ horror film based on his viral YouTube series has skyrocketed over the past week, especially after the film got widespread approval from critics with an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score.
With at least $13 million in presales from Friday screenings, the film is starting to show the same sort of opening weekend momentum as recent box office hits like “The Devil Wears Prada 2” or even “Michael,” and is within striking distance of passing the $81.6 million 3-day opening of last weekend’s “Star Wars” film “The Mandalorian and Grogu” despite sporting an R rating.
And because of this, “Backrooms” is now set to more than triple A24’s previous wide opening weekend record set two years ago by “Civil War” with $25.5 million. This in spite of the fact that there’s another big Gen Z-fueled horror hit in theaters right now with Focus Features’ “Obsession,” which is set to pass $100 million domestically this weekend.
“Backrooms” will cap off what has been a spectacular May for the box office, crossing $1 billion in domestic grosses for the first time since 2019 and for the first time ever without the release of a Marvel movie. Year-to-date domestic grosses have reached $3.5 billion at the fastest pace since the COVID-19 pandemic.
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