Particle.news

Backrooms Becomes A24’s Top Earner as Creator Rejects Horror Label

The film’s roughly $400 million box office and strong HBO Max debut point to how online fandoms can pull young viewers back to theaters and keep titles visible on streaming.

Overview

  • Backrooms earned about $400–401 million worldwide after its May theatrical run, making it A24’s highest-grossing theatrical release to date.
  • Kane Parsons, who adapted the film from his viral YouTube series, told a Zurich Film Festival summit on Sept. 26 that he does not view Backrooms as a horror film and plans to resist tight genre labels for future work.
  • Reports that Parsons is already developing a sequel have been mixed: Variety published that a sequel was in progress, while Parsons publicly disputed some accounts and called them inaccurate.
  • After leaving theaters, Backrooms debuted on HBO Max and was reported by third-party tracker FlixPatrol to top the platform’s most-watched movies list, extending the title’s visibility beyond cinemas.
  • Industry executives at Zurich compared Backrooms and Focus Features’ Obsession to past cultural inflection points and said the two films show how decentralized, creator-built fandoms can drive box-office rebounds and push studios to pursue original, internet-born talent.