All articles tagged with #backrooms
Deadline reports that A24’s Backrooms, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, will stream on HBO Max on Sept. 25, with a linear premiere on Sept. 26 at 8 PM ET; the film, a summer box-office hit, opened to $81.2M domestic and has tallied a reported $396.5M worldwide, following a 46-day theatrical run and a 119-day theater-to-streaming window.
A24's Backrooms will stream on HBO Max starting Sept. 25, following a breakout theatrical run that grossed about $330 million worldwide on a $10 million budget. Directed by Kane Parsons, the film stars Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and opened in theaters July 3 with 15 minutes of extra footage. Parsons has hinted at expanding the project beyond the film into a broader series, with HBO Max serving as the streaming home.
Entertainment round-up: Matt Damon jokes that Christopher Nolan bans chairs on set (and Uggs too) as part of The Odyssey’s stamina test, with Anne Hathaway previously noting the chair rule. A Call of Duty movie is moving forward with Peter Berg and Taylor Sheridan, set in Modern Warfare for a 2028 release. A24 apologizes for automated takedowns around The Backrooms and clarifies it doesn’t own the meme ecosystem. Netflix reveals a $587 million acquisition of Ben Affleck’s InterPositive AI tools to power hundreds of projects, with Affleck serving as a senior advisor.
21-year-old Kane Parsons, director of the breakout Backrooms, has become Hollywood’s hottest free agent as A24 reportedly offers a record deal to keep him, while Warner Bros. and Universal circle and court him with high-profile meetings.
Christopher Nolan lauds Curry Barker’s Obsession and Kane Parsons’s Backrooms in a Telegraph interview, arguing cinema thrives on ambitious, tactile storytelling and that young audiences are rejecting AI-driven "slop." He cites Obsession’s $400M+ global gross on a $750K budget and Backrooms’ $350M+ global gross as evidence, and notes his belief that long-form storytelling can still captivate new generations; Spielberg also praised Obsession, and Nolan’s next film The Odyssey features a star-studded cast.
Backrooms has become A24’s highest-grossing film domestically and globally, crossing $350 million globally (about $357 million total) after 37 days in theaters, with record performances in markets including China, France, Russia & CIS, Poland and Taiwan.
A24 is re-releasing the surprise horror hit Backrooms as 'Backrooms: Everything Must Go Edition' with 15 minutes of bonus footage, running about 2 hours 6 minutes and hitting theaters on July 3. The re-release features a theatrically exclusive post-credits sequence with footage from director Kane Parsons, who rose to attention on YouTube as a teen. The move aims to capitalize on the busy July 4th weekend amid competition from Toy Story 5 and Minions & Monsters; A24 did not immediately comment.
A24 signed a roughly $75 million AI research partnership with Google DeepMind, giving it access to AI tools for production and distribution, including storyboarding; the move sparked backlash from fans who canceled AAA24 memberships and accused the indie studio of betraying its arthouse roots, while A24 says the tools will be used cautiously and not as generic AI generation.
Reddit is being positioned as a real-time IP incubator for Hollywood, with A24’s Backrooms rising from subreddit lore to a feature film driven by communities like r/backrooms and r/movies and creators Kane Parsons (Kane Pixels) and Curry Barker. Industry insiders say moderators help shape lore and surface talent, while agencies scan subreddits for ideas and talent and brands test concepts via AMAs and other engagements. Reddit reports massive entertainment viewership (about 240 billion views in the past year) and notes that entertainment campaigns can lift viewership, underscoring Reddit’s growing role as a source of new IP and opportunity for studios.
Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day opened strong worldwide, posting about $92.9 million global with $44 million in the US over the weekend on a $115 million budget, signaling potential as his best-performing original US title. Obsession and Backrooms also posted notable numbers, while Michael, the first part of Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic, surged past $932 million globally to become the highest-grossing music biopic ever, setting sights on overtaking Oppenheimer’s biopic total.
Backrooms, A24's feature-length adaptation of a viral meme directed by Kane Parsons, translates Gen Z's anxiety about life online into a mutating, algorithmic labyrinth where work and home blur into one endless space; drawing on gaming and internet culture (Portal 2, Minecraft) and surfacing concerns about AI and a tightening job market, the film became a Gen Z sensation, aided by a real 30,000-square-foot set and Parsons's rise from meme creator to Hollywood director.
A24’s breakout horror Backrooms has surpassed $200 million worldwide, reaching $213 million in its second weekend and marking the studio’s first $200M title. The performance signals a shift for A24 toward bigger-budget, IP-driven projects (with talk of an Elden Ring adaptation) while still pursuing distinctive, countercultural cinema.
Scary Movie opened with $55M domestic to top the weekend box office, beating Masters of the Universe's $29.3M debut; the horror surge helped push Scary Movie's global launch to about $105.5M, while indie hits Backrooms and Obsession posted strong numbers and The Mandalorian fell to sixth. The weekend was up about 63% from last year, with Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day on tap next weekend.
Scary Movie scores a franchise-record $55 million domestic and $105.5 million worldwide, topping Masters of the Universe’s $29.3 million domestic debut; the weekend’s top five also includes Backrooms ($25.9M), Obsession ($25.6M), and The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act ($12.7M), with The Mandalorian & Grogu at No. 6 with about $10 million.
Backrooms has become A24’s highest-grossing worldwide release, surpassing Marty Supreme with about $212 million globally (roughly $135 million in North America) after just 10 days, with strong international performance and signs of franchise potential.