‘Backrooms’ Predicted to Have Scary Good Opening Weekend at the Box Office

A low-budget horror film is aiming for a record-setting opening weekend at the box office this weekend. Backrooms, A24’s eerie movie from YouTuber-turned-director Kane Parsons, is expected to make $40 to $50 million its opening weekend.

The huge number would shatter the record for A24’s biggest debut. That title currently belongs to Alex Garland’s 2024 thriller Civil War with $25.5 million.

Many of A24’s big releases opened in just a few theaters to build buzz before launching nationwide (e.g., Marty Supreme, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Hereditary). But Backrooms will instead debut in 3,400 North American venues, Variety reports.

With its productions budget of around just $10 million, Backrooms is poised to make a massive financial return for Parsons, A24 and Chernin Entertainment.

Parsons, 20, adapted Backrooms from his hit web series of the same name in which a therapist’s patient (Chiwetel Ejiofor) disappears into a dimension beyond reality. The therapist (Renate Reinsve) ventures into the unknown to rescue him.

The movie follows the success of Obsession, a horror breakup film from YouTube creator Curry Barker that has generated a massive $62 million in North America and $84.6 million worldwide after just two weekends. It was produced for less than $1 million and then acquired by Focus for $15 million.

Do the prediction markets back up the early Backrooms data? Polymarket bettors are putting their money on it, big time. On a trade scenario titled “Backrooms Opening Weekend Box Office,” nearly 100% of traders are betting that Backrooms will take home more than $35 million — the highest option on the market, which opened on May 12.

Backrooms will open against Sony’s family-friendly comedy The Breadwinner and the Focus Features war drama Pressure. Nate Bargatze’s The Breadwinner is predicted to make less than $10 million this weekend. Pressure is expecting to collect $6 million. Also in theaters are The Mandalorian and Grogu, Obsession, and Lionsgate’s Michael biopic.

Despite Backrooms‘ predicted success, Obsession is also expected to have another huge weekend. Variety reports it could bring in anywhere from $15 million to $20 million between Friday and Sunday.

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