Backrooms set – A24’s viral-born ‘Backrooms’ is set to become the studio’s highest-grossing film worldwide this weekend, even as it faces a steep North American second-weekend drop.
For a studio built on momentum and risk, the box office math has started to feel like proof. In less than a year, A24 has now beaten its own records twice. This weekend—or by Monday. depending on how the numbers land—Kane Parsons’ viral-born Backrooms is expected to become the New York studio’s highest grossing movie ever at the global box office.
The target is specific: it would overtake the $191.2M global haul previously set by the Timothée Chalamet-starring Marty Supreme.
The climb is happening while the North American picture cools fast. Backrooms is estimated to drop -68% in its second weekend there, bringing in a second-frame $25.7M. By tomorrow, domestic cumulative is expected to reach $134.8M. Overseas. the pace is steadier: the running foreign cumulative stood at $50.3M as of yesterday. with global expected to be north of $185M by the end of Sunday.
That steep second-weekend decline in North America isn’t being treated as a mystery. Backrooms is described as a fan-front-loaded IP—81% of the second weekend audience is still under 35. In other words: the first wave hit hard, and it wasn’t a slow-burn crowd that had time to spread out.
Even with that drop, the record run is still unusually tight. Backrooms is accomplishing this in its first 10 days at the box office (if not 11). Marty Supreme took 53 days for A24’s previous longtime top-grossing film to be overtaken—Everything Everywhere All at Once ($147.9M WW) was the benchmark before that.
This is also not the first time Backrooms has rewritten A24’s internal leaderboard. As MISRYOUM reported Wednesday, it became A24’s highest grossing movie at the domestic box office, overtaking Marty Supreme ($96M) in its first six days of release.
The scale of what A24 is doing shows up in the production details. Backrooms cost under $10M, co-financed with Chernin Entertainment, with a domestic P&A in the teen millions. It stars Oscar nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve. The film was produced by Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, 21 Laps and Phobos.
The broader summer landscape has been busy, too, with other studios posting their own standout results. Lionsgate’s Michael is set to cross $888M worldwide this weekend. becoming that studio’s highest grossing title in its history. Focus Features’ Obsession is already above $151M by tomorrow and is the label’s top grossing stateside release; it is also expected to outstrip their pure Focus label top global grossing release ever. Downton Abbey. which ended its run at $194.6M WW.
There’s an extra wrinkle to that last comparison: Universal’s classic label predecessor, USA Films, counts Traffic as its top grossing movie at $207.5M WW, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Obsession passes that ultimate threshold.
Backrooms’ own story, though, is the one driving attention. It’s moving toward A24’s all-time global high despite a sharp domestic fade. powered by a younger audience that arrived early and a global turnout that hasn’t slowed the way North America has. If the global total clears $191.2M this weekend—or by Monday—A24 won’t just be looking at another hit.
It will be looking at the kind of record that changes how the studio’s next bets get judged.
A24 Backrooms Kane Parsons Marty Supreme Timothée Chalamet box office global box office record Chiwetel Ejiofor Renate Reinsve