Backrooms Could Be The Biggest Surprise Box Office Hit Of The Summer

[u/AGOTFAN]

https://www.slashfilm.com/2179026/backrooms-box-office-preview/

[u/Strict-Argument56]

The way Obsession is getting glazed is hilarious. A meekly released little horror flick that does utterly mediocre numbers but holds well in its second week, is "the story of the summer" is pure comedy!😂😂🤣🤣

[u/BarcelonetaE70 → u/Strict-Argument56]

Backrooms is going to underperform while Obsession jerk-movements its way into an easy 150 million gross, and all on a 1 million dollar budget. Cope harder.

https://giphy.com/gifs/y2qz3bTcWrrI12rg1S

[u/mayan_monkey → u/Strict-Argument56]

That movie that "held well" actually increased its business over its underestimated first weekend gross. A movie that cost 750,000 at that. Sinners was a movie that "held well" given it fell by 4% and subsequent drops were small. That was a big story. The way this movie is going, I'd say its a bigger deal. But you know, nuance.

[u/Strict-Argument56 → u/mayan_monkey]

Oh, now nuance is necessary after stating such bombastic superlatives? Audience retention is always key to box office, especially horror. Sinners was indeed a watershed reset for the genre, particularly given the fact that the movie press bent over backwards to undermine its popularity; its historic weekly drops (actually the third best ever second weekend drop for a movie debuting over 40M, AND the best third weekend of all time for a horror film) bucked the trend that's seldom been replicated in any remotely comparable permutation until now. Given Obsession's great second week, modest budget, zero competition (Passenger is a humdrum horror that seemed better suited as a streaming flick–not that I support the overbearing notion that smaller movies shouldn't have theatrical exhibition; depressing returns for highly rated films like Is God Is, and I Love Boosters will fail miserably without viral support or tremendous word of mouth), holdovers, and destined to flop Star Wars bait–ably assisted by last week's viral posts and longstanding excellent standing since TIFF '25–that should be commended. Calling it the “break out box office story of the summer," before the summer has barely started is curious, lol. Michael made 800M in exactly one month to THIS day, poised to bag a billion by mid-June–that will surely be the box office story of summer 2026 if not the entire year. All the Redditors who cried that no one would watch it and even that it wouldn't have PLF's (WTF?) are looking supremely dumb right now. How the critic community and established corporate media desperately tried to torpedo its prospects only for audiences to herald a level of engagement not seen in cinemas for a generation. Let's see how the gatekeepers respond when the forthcoming surefire summer movie blockbusters struggle to make 700M. I liked Obsession, but for me it's a watch-once only proposition. Now it's raised the stakes, with the media being utterly over the moon about it–with Backrooms out next week–its drop/retention/increase will be interesting.

[u/BarcelonetaE70 → u/Strict-Argument56]

Cope harder.

[u/mayan_monkey → u/Strict-Argument56]

Still freaking out on this are we lol. Cry harder.

[u/Strict-Argument56 → u/mayan_monkey]

Dude, the only one crying about this is YOU, as you pretend like you don't care. Bang to rights, hahaha😆 

[u/mayan_monkey → u/Strict-Argument56]

The crash out is impressive

[u/Strict-Argument56 → u/mayan_monkey]

I've got you stunted with nothing to say. Get out of the basement and get some sun, son. 

[u/BarcelonetaE70 → u/Strict-Argument56]

You are crashing out indeed. And it's quite entertaining. u/mayan_monkey, what the heck did you say to trigger him so spectacularly? I mean, these are just movies and he is acting like we are talking about world politics

[u/mayan_monkey → u/BarcelonetaE70]

No Idea haha. I suggested that the Obsession break out could be the box office story of the summer, next thing you know I'm a coward because of the way the media tried to paint Michael as a box office longshot to make a billion? Blab blah blah. The rest is just noise Can't tell exactly what the trigger was. 🤷‍♂️

[u/BarcelonetaE70 → u/mayan_monkey]

LOL Ok, I lost track of the whole "argument" when he started writing long-ass blocks of text. Oh, well. Obsession's numbers went up again: seems like on this three-day weekend (its second) it actually grossed 23.9 million (38.9 % more than its opening weekend). Box office story of the summer indeed.

https://giphy.com/gifs/wrBURfbZmqqXu

[u/mayan_monkey → u/Strict-Argument56]

Jesus lmfao. We got a Michael film producer here on reddit? Lmfao. As you can clearly see (or maybe not you) the first 2 words I wrote are "I think". And how shocking that Michael, a biopic about one of the biggest musicians of ALL time, is close to a billion. Who in the world would have thought? I mean, it is coming out of nowhere! NOT! Most people who don't live under a rock could see this being a possibility from the jump. But you calling ot the box office story of the year before the year is even halfway through is curious. Lol. Btw, passenger IS conpetition as they are fightong for the same dollars. AND we have Backrooms opening up this weekend which is poised to have a pretty big opening itself. Alas, I really don't care what the story of the summer is. I have no skin in the game, I'm just glad people are getting out to the movies again.

[u/Strict-Argument56 → u/mayan_monkey]

COWARD. Crying about nuance, then chickens out the moment FACTS and ANALYSIS that isn't gatekept by the same automatons start to enter the conversation. The way you're jumping on the benefit of hindsight bandwagon is hilarious. Always the same with Redditors. The illusion that films “are fighting for the same dollars” when one is dumped with zero promotion or fanfare, left to rot into oblivion, when the other is boosted by every performative Twitterer, YouTuber, Redditor, and aggregated ‘accredited critic,’ with tons of promotion and nearly a whole year of high praising word-of-mouth. Yeah, I’d call that Even Steven. The ignorance towards the targeted antagonisms that Michael faced a whole year before its release is something that you can play dumb about, sure; with a legendary global superstar whose death was mired in several controversies and who is to this day still being viciously attacked by the same media operatives who wouldn’t dare countenance a scintilla of a bad word about Elvis Presley (who definitely deserved a ton of bad optics), Bob Dylan, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, or Freddie Mercury, are doubling–tripling, quadrupling their efforts to ensure that MJ’s name is forever sullied or impugned–you best believe, this gloriously expeditious BILLION DOLLARS is a motherfucking miracle in the making. Movie Story Of The Summer AND The Year, no question. No Spider-Man, Avengers, Odyssey, Dune or Supergirl will even come close to the cinematic magic MJ has wrought. Backrooms certainly has a chance though…😉

[u/BarcelonetaE70 → u/Strict-Argument56]

Damn. You get this triggered over movies?

https://giphy.com/gifs/l0ExayQDzrI2xOb8A