Overview
- Backrooms, which crossed $100 million domestically on Wednesday, is now A24’s highest-grossing film in North America after an $81.4 million opening weekend and strong weekday holds.
- The film was directed by 20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons and adapted from his Kane Pixels Backrooms shorts and internet creepypasta lore, giving it a built-in fanbase before theatrical release.
- Produced for roughly $10 million, Backrooms has already returned many times its cost and posted global totals well above opening-week estimates, making it highly profitable for A24 and its partners.
- A24 leaned on YouTube, TikTok, Reddit and in‑universe activations instead of broad TV buys, and those tactics helped drive heavy Gen Z turnout—about half of opening weekend audiences were under 25 and roughly 75% were under 35.
- Parsons says he has contractual holds and plans to expand the property into sequels or a TV series, and studios are now weighing the repeatable value of low-cost, creator-first projects even as questions remain about narrative longevity and second-week drops.