Creepy New Horror Movie Set for Hugely Successful Box Office Opening

Horror fans may be in for a treat, with the highly-anticipated movie Backrooms set to make a promising box office debut at the end of the month.

Box Office Pro reports that the ambient horror film from director Kane Parsons is set for a domestic opening weekend range of $20 to $30 million when it opens on May 29.

In Backrooms, Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as furniture store owner Clark, who stumbles into an otherworldly dimension of never-ending office space that hides chilling secrets, only for his therapist, Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), to come searching for him.

Parsons, who will become A24’s youngest director with the film’s release, adapted Backrooms from 2019 4chan creepypasta into his own series of viral YouTube shorts of the same name in 2022 when he was 16, prompting A24 to give him a feature adaptation.

Parsons told DiscussingFilm that he has a horror heavyweight in his corner: producer Osgood Perkins has been “a really great mentor figure.”

“When we started production up in Vancouver, I was working very closely, literally in the same office with Osgood Perkins,” he told the outlet. “So, he’s been a really great mentor figure in a number of ways, in that it’s very much the crew that he and Chris Ferguson put together over a number of years. And so, I think there’s a lot of secondhand resources I’ve been able to lean on while working on this thing.”

Parsons added, “And of course, there’s been all sorts of crazy stuff happening right now with people reaching out, but it’s generally been that group, and it’s been pretty insulated. It was a pretty quiet production, it was very peaceful and fun up there. So, we had a good time with it.”

Backrooms‘ particular subgenre of internet horror focuses on liminal spaces and creepy vibes, which might keep gore-lovers away. Despite that, Gen Z moviegoers familiar with the lore of Backrooms will be eager to see it play out on the big screen.

To put Backrooms in perspective, here’s a look at A24’s other successful horror films opening weekends: 2023’s Talk to Me opened with $10.4 million, 2024’s Heretic opened with $10.8 million, 2018’s Hereditary opened with $13.5 million and 2019’s Midsommar opened with $6.5 million.

Parsons doesn’t plan on limiting Backrooms‘ success with just one movie, either; in an interview with ScreenRant, he said, “I would have a very hard time saying it’s done. I guess that’s what I can say, but I expect to be seeing a little bit more in the not-so-distant future.”

Backrooms opens in theaters nationwide on May 29.