Backrooms Could Be The Biggest Surprise Box Office Hit Of The Summer

Things have largely been very encouraging at the box office in 2026 thus far. 2025 was a major disappointment at the box office; on the flip side, domestic ticket sales failed to cross the $9 billion mark. Things are looking up, though, and the summer has been delivering the goods. The next big summer hit, however, won't be a big superhero movie or another franchise tentpole. It's going to be a horror movie from a director who isn't even old enough to legally drink beer yet. "Backrooms" may well be the biggest surprise of the summer.

Directed by Kane Parsons, A24's "Backrooms" is expected to open between $25 and $33 million domestically when it arrives next weekend, per Box Office Theory. For a movie with a $10 million budget, that's downright stellar. Earlier estimates were more conservative, hovering in the $20 million range (per Deadline). To be clear, that would still be incredible, and this is just North American numbers. Depending on overseas interest, this could be a monster hit.

The movie is based on Parsons' very successful series of YouTube shorts. A24 decided to take a shot and let Parsons bring his vision to the big screen. Based on the early numbers, it looks like that's going to prove to be a brilliant decision. Much in the same way that Markiplier's "Iron Lung" shocked the box office earlier this year, the YouTube-to-Hollywood pipeline is bringing unexpected riches to theaters around the world.

The difference? "Iron Lung" topped out at $50 million worldwide. An incredible sum for a self-distributed $3 million movie. But "Backrooms" is looking to be a straight-up, unqualified, mainstream hit from a major studio.

In the movie, a strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom. Strange and scary happenings occur from there. The cast is led by Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Doctor Strange," "The Life of Chuck") and Renate Reinsve ("Presumed Innocent," "Sentimental Value"), with a script by Will Soodik ("Ash vs. Evil Dead").

For A24, this might take them to the next level. "Backrooms" is now poised to deliver the studio's biggest opening ever. Alex Garland's "Civil War" delivered A24's biggest box office opening with just shy of $26 million in 2024. But that was against a $50 million budget. The movie went on to earn $127 million worldwide and was a success, though not a resounding one. The feature directorial debut of one Mr. Kane Parsons, on the other hand, will be profitable within days of its release.

It follows in the footsteps of "Obsession," which continued the new trend in horror of YouTubers going on to churn out mainstream Hollywood hits. The question is to what degree movies like "Obsession" and "Passenger," which opens this weekend, will cut into what this movie can ultimately make. There will be a lot of horror for audiences to choose from.

That's to say nothing of "The Mandalorian and Grogu," which doesn't need to break box office records to be a hit, but it's still "Star Wars" and will take up a lot of oxygen in the room. All the same, thanks to this movie's thrifty budget, it's assured to be a winner. It's just a matter of how big that win is. Can it leg out beyond opening weekend? Will it extend beyond the core Gen Z fanbase? Time will tell, but things are looking good.

"Backrooms" hits theaters on May 29, 2026.