Weekend Box Office Recap: Backrooms Turns Internet Horror Into a Box Office Event

The weekend of May 29–31, 2026 was one of the most surprising box office weekends of the year. A week after Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu opened at No. 1, the marketplace was completely reshaped by Backrooms, an A24 horror film based on internet lore and directed by 20-year-old YouTube creator Kane Parsons.

Backrooms opened to an estimated $81.5 million domestic weekend, a massive result for an R-rated horror movie, a record-setting launch for A24, and a clear sign that online-native storytelling is becoming a serious theatrical force. Even more impressive: it did this while Obsession, another YouTuber-directed horror breakout, continued to grow in its third weekend.

This was not just a strong horror weekend. It was a cultural shift weekend.

Backrooms Explodes at No. 1

Backrooms opened in first place with $81.5 million from 3,442 theaters, nearly matching the three-day opening of The Mandalorian and Grogu from the previous weekend. That comparison is the headline: a relatively low-budget A24 horror film based on internet mythology came within striking distance of a modern Star Wars opening.

The movie’s economics make the debut even more impressive. Backrooms reportedly cost around $10 million to produce, which means its opening weekend alone already makes it one of the most profitable-looking releases of the summer. For A24, this is a major expansion moment. The studio has had critical and commercial breakouts before, but this is a different scale — a true mainstream horror event.

The film’s audience profile also tells the story. Backrooms drew a very young crowd, with reports showing a huge share of the audience under 35, under 25, and even under 21. That matters because theaters are constantly looking for ways to bring younger audiences back into the habit of moviegoing. This weekend, the answer was not a superhero sequel, a legacy franchise, or a four-quadrant family title. It was internet horror.

Domestic Top 10

Here is the estimated domestic top 10 for May 29–31, 2026:

1. Backrooms — $81.5 million
2. Obsession — $26.4 million
3. Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu — $25.0 million
4. Michael — $11.7 million
5. The Breadwinner — $7.5 million
6. The Devil Wears Prada 2 — $5.9 million
7. Pressure — $5.8 million
8. The Sheep Detectives — $4.6 million
9. Passenger — $2.6 million
10. Mortal Kombat II — $2.0 million

Obsession Keeps Defying Normal Box Office Logic

The weekend’s No. 2 movie may be just as important as the No. 1 film. Obsession earned $26.4 million in its third weekend, actually rising again instead of falling. That is rare for any wide release and almost unheard of for horror, which usually drops quickly after opening weekend.

The movie is now at about $104.7 million domestic, making it Focus Features’ highest-grossing domestic release. That is a remarkable achievement for a film reportedly made for under $1 million. Even with Backrooms arriving and targeting a similar young horror audience, Obsession did not get crushed. It grew.

That tells us two things. First, the horror audience is not a fixed pie. When the movies feel fresh, social, and worth seeing with a crowd, multiple horror titles can thrive at once. Second, creator-driven projects are not just niche curiosities anymore. They are becoming legitimate box office engines.

Star Wars Takes a Steep Second-Weekend Drop

After winning Memorial Day weekend, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu dropped to third place with $25 million, down roughly 69% from its opening frame. Its domestic total now stands at about $137.4 million, with the film at about $246.6 million worldwide.

That is not a disaster, but it is not the kind of hold Disney would have wanted. The movie opened solidly over the holiday, but the second-weekend drop suggests the theatrical excitement around this particular Star Wars title was front-loaded. It may still get to a respectable final number, especially given its lower reported production cost compared with some past Star Wars films, but this weekend made clear that The Mandalorian and Grogu is not dominating the summer conversation.

The contrast with Backrooms is hard to ignore. One movie represents one of Hollywood’s most familiar legacy brands. The other came from internet horror, YouTube culture, and a young filmmaker with a built-in digital following. This weekend, the younger and weirder movie won.

Michael Continues Its Strong Run

Michael finished fourth with $11.7 million in its sixth weekend, pushing its domestic total to about $339.9 million. The Michael Jackson biopic has slowed from its huge early run, but it remains one of the biggest movies of 2026 and one of the biggest music biopics ever.

Globally, Michael is still a monster. Box Office Mojo lists it at about $846.3 million worldwide, making it the No. 2 movie of 2026 globally behind The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Even if the film’s domestic weekend has cooled, its overall box office story remains enormous.

New Releases Beyond Backrooms

The weekend also had two other notable new wide releases.

The Breadwinner, a family comedy starring Nate Bargatze, opened in fifth place with $7.5 million. That is a modest start, but it gives the marketplace some family-friendly counterprogramming after several weeks dominated by horror, action, biopics, and franchise titles.

Pressure, a World War II drama starring Brendan Fraser, opened in seventh place with $5.8 million. It is not a breakout number, but it adds another adult-skewing option to the late-spring marketplace. The issue for both The Breadwinner and Pressure is that this weekend’s attention was overwhelmingly focused on the horror boom.

Outside the top 10, Tuner expanded to 452 theaters and earned about $1.7 million, a solid result for a smaller heist-romance release.

Holdovers Round Out the Weekend

The Devil Wears Prada 2 placed sixth with $5.9 million, bringing its domestic total to about $209.4 million. The sequel is no longer the weekly headline, but it has already become one of the year’s biggest adult-skewing commercial hits.

The Sheep Detectives added $4.6 million, bringing its domestic total to about $54.5 million. Its run has been steady, though it has now been pushed down by the bigger genre and franchise titles around it.

Passenger fell to ninth with $2.6 million, and Mortal Kombat II rounded out the top 10 with $2 million. Both films appear to be fading quickly, especially compared with the audience energy around Backrooms and Obsession.

The Bigger Story: YouTube Horror Is No Longer a Side Lane

This weekend’s defining takeaway is not simply that Backrooms opened big. It is that Backrooms and Obsession together made the box office feel younger, stranger, and more unpredictable.

For years, Hollywood has treated YouTube, TikTok, creepypasta, and internet-native horror as development territory, but often with caution. The concern was always whether online popularity could translate into ticket sales. This weekend offered a clear answer: yes, when the concept is strong, the audience feels ownership over it, and the theatrical experience becomes part of the cultural event.

Both Backrooms and Obsession also came through Blumhouse-Atomic Monster involvement, which gives the weekend an industry angle. Horror has always been a place where new filmmakers can break through, but this may accelerate the search for internet-born directors, digital-first storytellers, and concepts that already have community momentum before traditional marketing begins.

The other key lesson: younger audiences still go to theaters. They just need the right reason. This weekend, that reason was not polish or legacy branding. It was vibe, fear, online familiarity, and the feeling that seeing the movie opening weekend was part of the conversation.

International Box Office

Internationally, Backrooms was also the weekend’s biggest story. The film opened to about $118 million worldwide, which means it earned roughly $36.5 million overseas on top of its domestic debut. That is a strong international start for an R-rated horror film and gives A24 a genuine global breakout.

Obsession also continued to perform well globally, reaching about $148 million worldwide after adding $40.2 million globally for the weekend. That total is extraordinary given its reported sub-$1 million production budget. It is now one of the clearest return-on-investment stories of the year.

The Mandalorian and Grogu reached about $246.6 million worldwide, but its steep domestic drop raises questions about its long-term ceiling. It should continue adding globally, but after this weekend, it no longer looks like the dominant summer force Disney might have hoped for.

Among the larger 2026 holdovers, Michael stands at about $846.3 million worldwide, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is around $666.1 million worldwide, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie remains the year’s biggest global release at about $991.8 million.

Bottom line: Backrooms did more than win the weekend. It turned internet horror into a mainstream theatrical event, proved A24 can open at blockbuster scale, and showed Hollywood that the next big box office wave may be coming from creators who built their audiences online first.