In a feat that stunned Hollywood, a micro-budgeted horror by a first-time director has gone from internet curiosity to bona fide box office phenomenon. “Backrooms”, A24’s adaptation of the viral online horror franchise upended the box office over the weekend, debuting to a massive $118 million worldwide and rewriting several records in the process.
Made for just under $10 million, the film opened to $81.4 million domestically and $36.5 million internationally, becoming the biggest opening weekend in A24 history by a wide margin. The launch surpassed the studio’s previous record holder, Civil War, and ranks as the largest opening ever for an original film directed by a first-time feature filmmaker. It also stands as the biggest original horror debut of 2026 so far.
Based on the internet-born “Backrooms” mythology that exploded across YouTube, Reddit and horror forums, the film follows a therapist who enters a labyrinthine alternate dimension after one of her patients mysteriously disappears. The feature stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Mark Duplass.
Much of the conversation surrounding the film has centered on director Kane Parsons, who first gained attention as a teenager through his Kane Pixels YouTube channel. At just 20 years old, Parsons became the youngest director ever to helm a No. 1 film at the global box office. Industry observers have also noted that he now holds the record for the largest opening weekend by a first-time director working on an original feature.
The success arrives amid a broader surge for creator-driven horror. Another unlikely breakout, Obsession, has been posting extraordinary numbers of its own, becoming the highest-grossing film in Focus Features history while continuing to outperform expectations weeks into its run. Together, the two films have turned a traditionally quiet stretch of the calendar into one of the year’s most surprising box office stories.
For A24, Backrooms is already a landmark hit. For Parsons, it’s an even rarer achievement: a YouTube creator making the leap to Hollywood and immediately landing atop the worldwide box office.