🏆 Indie Horror Shatters Historical Records for A24

Produced on a budget of just $10 million, the picture became the highest-grossing release in A24’s history and one of the most profitable film projects of the year.

The film was directed by 20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons, who became the youngest director ever to top the US box office. Its success is built on his own viral web series exploring liminal spaces—an eerie, endless labyrinth of yellow rooms and corridors.

The triumph of The Backrooms, alongside another independent horror sensation, Obsession by 26-year-old creator Curry Barker (which grossed $516 million on a $750,000 budget), shatters the common narrative that Gen Z is losing interest in going to the cinema. Strong word-of-mouth and relentless social media buzz drove the film’s exceptional box-office legs.

Fueled by The Backrooms, A24 posted its highest-grossing summer in company history, pulling ahead of major studios like Warner Bros. and Paramount in market share. During the summer slate—a period traditionally dominated by tentpole blockbusters—the independent distributor generated $237 million, securing fourth place in the US market, trailing only Universal ($1.12B), Sony ($978.8M), and Disney ($664M).

The Backrooms Key Box-Office Milestones:

• Highest-grossing A24 film of all time: More than doubled the studio’s previous record holder, the drama Marty Supreme ($192M).
• Record opening weekend: Grossed $81 million domestically and $118 million worldwide in its debut frame, smashing A24’s previous benchmark held by Alex Garland’s Civil War ($25.5M).
• International strongholds: Top-performing markets outside the US included China ($27.8M), Mexico ($17.8M), the UK ($17.6M), Australia ($12.3M), and France ($12.2M).

While Hollywood legacy studios scramble to scout fresh talent across YouTube, Parsons is already teasing plans to expand the project into a full-fledged cinematic universe.