A24’s ‘Backrooms’ sets box-office record for original horror in UK-Ireland with £4.3m opening

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A24’s Backrooms topped the UK-Ireland box-office chart this weekend with £4.3m, the biggest ever opening for an original horror film in the territory.

As well as being the best performing opening for a non-franchise and non-major studio IP horror film on record in UK-Ireland, after The Woman In Black opened to £3.2m in 2012 for Momentum, it is also A24’s all-time best opener. The film similarly set personal bests for the distributor in North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, the Middle East, Scandinavia, Taiwan, Israel and Turkey.

A24’s previous highest opener in UK-Ireland was The Drama, released through Entertainment Film Distributors earlier this year, opening to £2.1m. 

YouTuber-turned-director Kane Parsons makes his feature debut with this psychological horror starring Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor. A therapist and her patient discover a dimension of endless liminal spaces that are accessed through the basement of a store. Hamish Moseley’s nascent company Holdover managed the UK-Ireland release on behalf of A24, the second time it has done so after Eternity.

Backrooms opened in 586 cinemas, for a site average of £7,307.

Disney’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu added £2.7m in its second weekend, a 50% drop on its previous session, now on a £11.3m total.

Universal’s Michael grossed £1.8m in its sixth weekend, dropping only 1% on its previous session. Its total now stands at £48m.

Another horror from a YouTube creator, Universal’s Curry Barker-directed Obsession’s third weekend grossed £1.6m, its best weekend to-date, and up 21% on its previous session, for a total of £6.8m. 

Disney’s The Devil Wears Prada 2 strutted up a further £872,731 in its fifth weekend, a 24% drop on its previous session, and now on £32.1m.

Sony’s The Sheep Detectives added £710,232 in its fourth weekend, 32% up on its previous session, now for a cumulative figure of £8.3m.

Black Bear’s Tuner, starring Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman, opened to £280,000 from 180 sites, for a location average of £1,555. The crime thriller’s total including previews is £361,000. Daniel Roher’s Telluride premiere centres on a gifted piano tuner who is hired by criminals to crack safes.

Lionsgate’s release of John Carney’s Power Ballad opened with £181,467 from 525 venues for a location average of £346, plus £20,453 in previews.

Mixed picture for holdovers  

Universal’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie added £221,621 in its ninth weekend, up 81% on its previous session, now for an overall figure of £38m.

Paramount’s Passenger brought in £148,000 in its second weekend, for a total of £749,000.

Altitude’s animation Charlie The Wonderdog lapped up £70,405 in its second session, now on £314,029 overall.

Universal’s Working Title romantic comedy Finding Emily added £61,235 in its second weekend, a 69% drop on its opening, now totalling £504,098.

Picturehouse’s The Christophers topped up its total with £58,774 in its third weekend and has now crossed the £1m mark.

Entertainment Film Distributors added £50,906 for The Magic Faraway Tree, now on £15m overall.

Warner Bros’ Mortal Kombat II added £41,601 in its fourth weekend, now totalling £3.4m.

Kristin Scott Thomas’s directorial debut My Mother’s Wedding grossed £36,815 from 158 locations in its opening weekend for Universal, with a site average of £233. Including previews, it has grossed £37,899 in total. 

Park Circus’s Legally Blonde re-release snapped up £30,439 from 153 locations, for a site average of £199, with a further 130 locations to screen across the week.

Trinity Film/Cine Asia’s We’re Nothing At All opened to £20,852 from 41 locations, for a site average of £509. Plus £3,998 in previews, its total is £24,850. The Hong Kong social drama from filmmaker Herman Yau is inspired by true events that took place in Wuhan in 1998 and centres on a fatal bus explosion.

Modern Projects – the new venture from UK distributor Modern Films – grossed £3,584 from six locations for its first release, Thor Klein and Lena Vurma’s Leonora In The Morning Light. The site total is £597, with a total of £7,578 including a preview screening.

Curzon’s Portrait Of A Lady On Fire re-release grossed £6,711 from 18 venues, for a site average of £373, with more cinemas set to play the film across the coming month, chiming with Pride month.

Vertigo’s Moss & Freud, James Lucas’s film which follows the UK supermodel and her experience of being painted by Lucian Freud, starring Ellie Bamber and Derek Jacobi, has opened to £2,675 from 21 sites, for a location average of £127. The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2025. 

• YouTube creators rule US box office: ‘Backrooms’ opens on A24-record $82m, ‘Obsession’ hits $100m