That’s $10.4M in Thursday previews for Kane Parsons’ “Backrooms.” On top of that, Friday pre-sales are already at $15M+, which is on par with some of the biggest openings of the year so far. We’re expecting a $28M Friday, resulting in a $90M weekend. Simply incredible.
I would, however, keep an eye on those audience scores, which aren’t great — B- CinemaScore, 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 52% definite recommendation, with a 67% positive on PostTrak. Word of mouth could prove to be a burden, and translate into a big dip in its second weekend.
Regardless, the film has already made all of its money back, as the budget for “Backrooms” was only $10M. This is going to destroy A24’s previous opening record — “Civil War,” which had a $25M weekend.
What’s wild is that tracking has been horrendous on this film — almost nobody saw it coming, except a very few. On May 8, “Backrooms” was tracking at a $20M weekend, and on May 20 it went up to $35–40M. So, in essence, it’s more than doubled expectations. What’s more, it goes to show just how out of touch the industry is when it comes to how popular YouTube content creators are — they can now deliver blockbuster hits.