{"id":1277,"date":"2026-06-05T19:08:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1277"},"modified":"2026-06-05T19:08:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:08:58","slug":"20-year-old-filmmakers-backrooms-rocks-hollywood-with-record-setting-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1277","title":{"rendered":"20-year-old filmmaker’s ‘Backrooms’ rocks Hollywood with record-setting debut"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After just one weekend, \u201cBackrooms\u201d has secured its status as a cinematic phenomenon with an unexpectedly strong box office performance.<\/p>\n

Read more Bay Area weather remains ideal for those who can\u2019t stand the heat<\/a><\/p>\n

The psychological horror movie directed by 20-year-old Sonoma County resident Kane Parsons grossed $81 million on May 29-31, according to media data company Comscore. That gave it the weekend\u2019s top spot and claim to several records:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Youngest filmmaker to hold the No. 1 spot. Parsons unseated Josh Trank, who was 27 when \u201cChronicle\u201d opened in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Biggest debut for an original horror movie. \u201cBackrooms\u201d took in less than either of the two parts of \u201cIt\u201d (2017 and 2019), but those were based on a Stephen King novel that had previously been made into a miniseries.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Biggest opening weekend for a movie from the company A24. Previously, it was \u201cCivil War \u201d (2024).<\/p>\n

\u2022 Biggest domestic take for a movie from A24. It took \u201cBackrooms\u201d two more days to grab this spot, crossing the $100 million threshold on June 2. Previously, the A24 record was \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d (2025), with domestic box office of $96 million. In global earnings, \u201cBackrooms\u201d already has the company\u2019s No. 3 spot, behind \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d and \u201cEverything Everywhere All at Once.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more SF Giants add bullpen length, recall Seymour from Triple-A Sacramento<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBackrooms\u201d \u2014 set in San Jose \u2014 extends the canon of Parsons\u2019 YouTube series, which he began making when he was a student at Marin School of the Arts, in Novato. The movie was reportedly completed for under $10 million; it was largely filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.<\/p>\n

In its theatrical breakout, it\u2019s joined by another surprise hit, \u201cObsession,\u201d which opened May 15 and has had two bigger weekends since. That made it the first movie since \u201cE.T.,\u201d in 1982, to increase its box office in its second and third weekends.<\/p>\n

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The horror movie 1-2 punch dropped Disney\u2019s \u201cStar Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu\u201d to third place at the box office on its second weekend.<\/p>\n

Like Parsons, \u201cObsession\u201d\u2018s director, 26-year-old Curry Barker, has YouTube roots, as does Mark Fischbach, whose self-released sci-fi\/horror movie \u201cIron Lung\u201d has grossed $51 million this year.<\/p>\n

Parsons will turn 21 on June 18. In comparison, Sam Raimi was 23 when \u201cThe Evil Dead\u201d had its wide release; Kevin Smith was 23 when \u201cClerks\u201d was screened at Sundance and 24 at its theatrical release; and Steven Spielberg was 24 when his TV movie \u201cDuel\u201d came out.<\/p>\n

Read more Man is charged with bringing a bomb in his carry-on bag to a Northern California airport<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sonoma County man is now the youngest filmmaker to hold a No. 1 U.S. box office spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"\n20-year-old filmmaker’s ‘Backrooms’ rocks Hollywood with record-setting debut - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1277\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"20-year-old filmmaker’s ‘Backrooms’ rocks Hollywood with record-setting debut - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Sonoma County man is now the youngest filmmaker to hold a No. 1 U.S. box office spot.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1277\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-05T19:08:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1277#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1277\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"20-year-old filmmaker’s ‘Backrooms’ rocks Hollywood with record-setting debut\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-05T19:08:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1277\"},\"wordCount\":426,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1277#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/28d4b368d3ed7e253538fe771ef98372.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Things To Do\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1277#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1277\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1277\",\"name\":\"20-year-old filmmaker’s ‘Backrooms’ rocks Hollywood with record-setting debut - 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