A24’s Backrooms burst out of the gate with $38.4 million in first-day and preview grosses, putting it on track for an $85 million to $88 million opening weekend and, by some rival estimates, as much as $90 million. For a company known for modest releases, the start was being talked about as a record first day and opening weekend.
That is why Backrooms movie explained has become a search term this weekend: the film is not merely opening well, it is opening like a cultural event. Kane Parsons’ internet-born story is drawing younger moviegoers in waves, and the audience response is coming from people who already feel they know the property. Earlier this month, an attendee at the AERO Los Angeles premiere said he had already seen the film three times.
The numbers back up the noise. The film was launching in 50 offshore territories, with an estimated $36 million overseas start and a global opening projected at $121 million to $124 million. In the U.S. and Canada, the movie was playing evenly across the country, with the AMC Burbank in Los Angeles leading venues at $93,000. Premium large-format screens were doing real work too, accounting for 17% of the weekend.
The audience profile was unusually young, even by franchise standards. Backrooms’ biggest demo was 18-24 at 43%, followed by 25-34 at 25% and 13-17 at 20%. Under 35 made up 88% of the crowd, and the average age was 25.2 years old. Women under 25 were the biggest single slice at 24%, and they also gave the film its best grades at 72%.
Then came the part that keeps the story from reading like a clean victory lap. CinemaScore settled at a B-, while PostTrak exits showed 53% definite recommend, 68% positive and three stars. That is not the sort of score that usually screams breakout, yet Backrooms kept running ahead on sheer turnout. A24’s internal polling said more than half the crowd came because it was one of its films, 30% came for Parsons and 58% came for the Backrooms creepypasta at the center of the movie; PostTrak exits put the Parsons number at 27%.
The opening also underlines how precisely A24 aimed the release. Backrooms was described as Parsons’ internet-born IP, and the campaign was said to be laser-focused and finely curated to its fans. Even without Imax screens, it was still performing explosively with younger audiences, which is the clearest sign that the movie’s reach is being driven less by traditional spectacle than by a fan base that showed up already primed.
What remains unresolved is how high the final tally will climb once Saturday and Sunday grosses are fully counted. But the broad shape of the weekend is already clear: Backrooms has turned a niche online phenomenon into one of A24’s biggest openings ever, and maybe its biggest yet.
