A24's Backrooms Film Challenges Star Wars for Box Office Supremacy

A24's Backrooms adaptation is tracking to become the studio's highest-grossing opening ever, with projections between $40-45 million domestically, potentially overtaking Lucasfilm's Star Wars: Mandalorian and Grogu for the weekend's box office crown. The film marks a significant moment in streaming-to-cinema conversion, as internet-originated content continues to capture younger audiences at theatrical scale.

From YouTube Phenomenon to Major Release

Kane Parsons, who launched the Backrooms universe at age 16 on 4chan before expanding it across Reddit, created the original concept as a found-footage YouTube series using free 3D software Blender and Adobe After Effects. The series accumulated over 190 million views before its theatrical transformation. At just 20 years old, Parsons becomes A24's youngest-ever feature director, bringing his original vision intact to the big screen.

The film stars Oscar nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, alongside Mark Duplass. Ejiofor's character Clark, an architect turned furniture store owner, discovers a mysterious portal to liminal spaces in his showroom basement, a discovery his therapist Dr Mary Kline struggles to process. The narrative unfolds across the eerie architectural landscape that defined the YouTube shorts' visual identity.

The Liminal Space Phenomenon

The Backrooms film exploits a growing cultural fascination with "liminal spaces"—transitional locations that philosopher Mark Augé termed "non-places." These are environments like dead malls, empty airports, and corporate corridors that exist neither here nor there, stripped of human identity and historical meaning. Parsons has described the drop ceiling as an ideal symbol of modern monoculture, a visual shorthand for the standardized, meaningless architecture of late modernism. The first liminal space image to circulate online originated in 2003 from a Wisconsin furniture store renovation, establishing the aesthetic foundation for this emerging genre.

Critical Reception and Box Office Expectations

Professional reviews are currently at 81% fresh, suggesting critical appreciation for Parsons' directorial approach and the property's translation to film. Industry presales comparisons suggest strength comparable to Scream 7, though analysts expect the R-rated genre picture to experience front-loaded weekend performance. The film opens in 3,000 theaters following Thursday previews.

Meanwhile, Mandalorian and Grogu is anticipated to decline approximately 60% from its previous weekend, to around $40 million, keeping the two titles in close competition. The Star Wars feature's current domestic total stands at $104.5 million after its second weekend in release.