Backrooms & Obsession Shock With Total Dominance at Box Office

Backrooms and Obsession have taken the box office by storm. Both horror movies, made on tiny budgets by YouTube creators, left every other new release far behind. Gen Z turned out in massive numbers for both films, packing theaters across the country and rewriting the record books in the process.

Backrooms tops the weekend box office

Backrooms launched to a stunning $81.4 million from 3,442 North American theaters — blowing past early projections that had forecast a $40–$50 million debut (via Box Office Mojo).

Directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, the psychological thriller is based on his viral web series. The film follows a furniture store owner (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who discovers a secret doorway leading to an endless maze of nondescript rooms. When he vanishes, his therapist (Renate Reinsve) sets out to find him.

With a production budget of around $10 million, Backrooms has already collected $118 million globally. It made $81.4 million domestically and $36.5 million internationally, making it one of the most profitable films of the year.

The film shattered multiple records, like the biggest opening weekend in A24 history, the largest debut ever for an original horror film, and the best opening for a first-time director on a non-franchise film.

Obsession’s word of mouth makes it one of the most profitable movies ever

Since its debut, Obsession has continued to surpass other major releases. In its third weekend, the Focus Features breakout collected $26.4 million from 2,781 cinemas. It is a 10% rise from its second weekend, which itself surged 39% from its $17 million opening. It is the first film since E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982 to grow its ticket sales in both its second and third weekends outside the holiday season, according to Focus Features.

Obsession has now crossed $100 million domestically and sits at $148 million worldwide, and is rapidly closing in on the $150 million mark. It is the highest-grossing domestic release in Focus Features’ history, with a budget of just $750,000 to $1 million (via Box Office Mojo).

Source: Comingsoon.net