YouTube creator horror vanquishes worldwide box office as ‘Backrooms’ delivers $118m opening, ‘Obsession’ hits $148m total

Worldwide box office May 29-31

‘Backrooms’ is a box-office sensation

Kane Parsons’ Backrooms has set several box office records with its estimated $81.5m opening in North America, $36.5m across 39 international markets, and $118.0m worldwide.

Parsons, who turns 21 later this month, is the youngest person ever to direct a number-one global box office hit.

While Backrooms is comfortably A24’s biggest ever opener in North America, it has also achieved that feat in 30 international markets, including UK/Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, the Middle East, Scandinavia, Taiwan, Israel and Turkey.

International markets are led by UK/Ireland with an estimated $5.6m, the best horror opening of the year so far. Australia and New Zealand combined yielded an estimated $4.4m – the second biggest opening for a horror film this decade, behind only 2021’s A Quiet Place Part II.

Other strong markets include South Korea (an estimated $2.7m), the Middle East ($2.4m), Scandinavia ($2.2m) and Italy ($2.0m).

Giving additional upside to A24 is the fact that there are plenty of major international markets left to open, and this coming weekend sees the film land in Spain, Russia/CIS, Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Slovenia, with France, Germany, Poland and Belgium to follow later this month.

Among notable horror debut features, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez’s The Blair Witch Project achieved a stunning $248.6m lifetime since its 1999 release (not adjusted for inflation). Jordan Peele’s Get Out reached $259.9m in 2017.

Backrooms is produced by A24, Chernin Entertainment, Atomic Monster and 21 Laps Entertainment, and is co-financed by Chernin Entertainment and A24 with a reported production budget of $10m. Parsons directs from a screenplay by Will Soodik. It is based on Parsons’ Backrooms web series (beginning 2022), in turn based on a fictional location invented in a 2019 thread on the 4chan imageboard website.

‘Obsession’ rises again on third weekend with $40m session

Focus Features/Universal’s Obsession has risen at the box office for the second consecutive weekend, posting its best numbers to date on its third weekend of play.

In North America, estimated weekend takings of $26.4m represent a 10% rise on the previous session, while internationally the film added $13.8m – rising 21% in Universal Pictures International markets and 26% in non-UPI territories.

Totals after three weekends are $104.8m in North America, $42.2m for international, and $148m worldwide.

Obsession is directed and written by 26-year-old YouTube creator Curry Barker, previously best known for 2024’s 62-minute horror Milk & Serial, in which he starred alongside regular partner Cooper Tomlinson (aka the comedy duo behind sketch comedy channel “that’s a bad idea”).

Obsession opened in fresh markets India, Israel and the Philippines at the weekend, respectively grossing an estimated $877,000, $294,000 and $277,000.

In holdover markets, UK/Ireland posted another rise (up 15%) and leads the international pack with $9.0m. Mexico saw an 85% rise and has $3.1m cumulative. Among non-UPI markets, Australia (via Rialto) saw an 80% rise on the previous weekend, and is now at $5.5m. France (via Le Pacte) has reached $4.3m.

Key markets yet to release Obsession include Germany and Spain (late June), Japan (July) and South Korea (August).

Also for Universal is the international release of Michael (Lionsgate has domestic rights) and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Michael held well again (down 31% in international markets) and has reached $846.3m globally. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has fallen out of the top 10 worldwide chart despite adding an estimated $5.7m at the weekend. The Illumination/Nintendo collaboration has now reached $992.8m, and is inching towards $1bn.

‘The Mandalorian And Grogu’ plunges in week two

Disney/Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian And Grogu is showing wear and tear on its second weekend of play, dropping 69% from its opening session at the North American box office, and falling 53% across international holdover markets.

That outcome sees the bounty hunter adventure achieve an estimated $52.8m globally in its second weekend of play, and it is thus sandwiched in second place in Comscore’s worldwide weekend chart between the two YouTube creator horror hits.

Total for The Mandalorian And Grogu is now $137.4m in North America, $109.2m for international and $246.6m worldwide.

In cumulative, UK/Ireland leads international markets with $15.0m so far, ahead of Germany ($11.2m), Japan ($9.6m), China ($9.2m) and Australia ($7.7m). South Korea opened at the weekend with an estimated $1.0m.

Imax total on the film is $33.8m globally, which represents 13.7% of the worldwide cume.

Chinese hit ‘Dear You’ passes $200m

Chinese film Dear You slips from third to fifth place in the worldwide weekend chart, pushed down both by the arrival of Backrooms and the rise of Obsession. However, fifth-weekend takings of $27.9m represent only a 30% drop on the previous session. Cumulative total is $206.0m for this Chinese regional film with a production budget reported at just over $2m.

Directed and co-written by Lan Hongchun, Dear You is substantially set in China’s Shantou region, and is primarily spoken in Southern Min language Teochew Min. The drama tells the story of a young man seeking his grandfather in Thailand, and sending letters home to his grandmother in Shantou. The release began locally on April 30 and subsequently expanded across China.

Holding steady in eighth place in the worldwide chart is South Korean zombie horror Colony, directed and co-written by Yeon Sang-ho (Train To Busan). Second-weekend takings of $12.0m represent a negligible 3% drop on the opening number. Total so far is $26.1m.

Below Colony in the top 10 chart are two new North American releases: Sony’s Nate Bargatze family comedy The Breadwinner (an estimated $7.5m debut) and Focus Features’ weather-themed Second World War drama Pressure ($5.8m), directed and co-written by Anthony Maras, and based on the David Haig stage play. Pressure, starring Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser, has opened in North America far earlier than its key international market, UK/Ireland, where Studiocanal rolls out on September 9.

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