Culture 4 min read By Morgan Griffin
«Backrooms» Crosses $400 Million Worldwide, a Landmark for A24's Low-Budget Horror Bet
A24's $10 million horror film «Backrooms» has passed $400 million globally after nearly four months in theaters, with $197.5 million domestic and $202.57 million international, becoming one of the studio's biggest releases.
«Backrooms» has crossed $400 million at the global box office, a milestone that few independent horror films ever reach and one that cements A24's standing as a studio capable of turning modest budgets into mainstream events. The film has earned $197.5 million domestically and $202.57 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $400.07 million, after nearly four months in theaters.
The scale of that result is defined by its cost. «Backrooms» was produced for roughly $10 million, meaning its worldwide gross now stands at about forty times its production budget — a ratio that has become increasingly rare in a marketplace dominated by nine-figure tentpoles. The film's international total has also edged past its domestic haul, a sign that the premise has traveled well beyond the American audience that first turned it into a word-of-mouth phenomenon.
For A24, the film now ranks among the company's highest-grossing releases. The studio built its reputation on director-driven projects made outside the traditional studio system, and «Backrooms» fits that model while outperforming most of its peers. Its run has been unusually durable: rather than fading after a strong opening weekend, the film has continued to draw audiences across nearly four months, a pattern that suggests repeat viewings and steady interest rather than a single burst of curiosity.
The film's success also reflects a broader appetite for horror that has held steady at the box office in recent years. Low-budget horror has long offered studios a favorable risk profile, but the ceiling for such projects has risen as audiences treat the genre as a reliable theatrical draw rather than a niche category. «Backrooms» arrives from an online storytelling tradition — the liminal-space mythology that grew out of internet forums and short-form video — and its performance suggests that digital-native properties can be translated into theatrical events when the execution connects.
The milestone comes as the horror calendar remains crowded. Zach Cregger's «Resident Evil» opened to $108.3 million worldwide, the best debut in that franchise's history and the director's largest opening to date, surpassing the $70 million worldwide start of last year's «Weapons». That opening alone exceeded the global final gross of the original «Resident Evil» film, underscoring how much the genre's commercial expectations have shifted.
For A24, the question now is what «Backrooms» means for its release strategy going forward. A $400 million result from a $10 million production gives the studio both capital and credibility, and it strengthens the case for backing original horror concepts with theatrical ambitions. It also raises the bar for the next low-budget title the studio brings to market, since «Backrooms» has now demonstrated that the ceiling for such films is far higher than the industry typically assumes.
The film's continued presence in theaters, nearly four months after release, indicates that its run is not yet finished. Even modest additional grosses will push the worldwide total further past the $400 million mark, and the film's international performance in particular may still have room to grow in markets where it opened later. For now, «Backrooms» stands as one of the year's most profitable releases relative to its cost, and as a reminder that the horror genre remains one of the few reliable paths from a small budget to a global audience.
