This weekend’s box office may be tempting you to check your calendar (and your thermostat). Because, at a time of year when we’re typically settling in for the year’s biggest superhero flicks and summer blockbusters, it’s two horror movies that are dominating the domestic box office. Kane Parsons’ Backrooms and Curry Barker’s Obsession aren’t just any horror flicks, either — they’re low-budget films directed by YouTube stars, and this weekend they broke records while putting The Mandalorian and Grogu to shame.
Backrooms premiered on the 2026 movie schedule to $81.5 million — light years ahead of projections. (honestly, don’t even look at the number I reported last week). Meanwhile, Obsession saw another unprecedented increase in audience in its third weekend.
Take a look at the chart below (per The Numbers), then we’ll break down what it all means:
Weekend Box Office: May 29-31, 2026
* denotes new release
TITLE | WEEKEND TOTAL | DOMESTIC TOTAL | LAST WEEK | THEATERS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Backrooms* | $81,456,295 | $81,456,295 | N/A | 3,442 |
2. Obsession | $26,400,000 | $104,758,000 | 2 | 2,781 |
3. The Mandalorian and Grogu | $25,000,000 | $137,368,604 | 1 | 4,300 |
4. Michael | $11,700,000 | $339,903,000 | 3 | 3,118 |
5. The Breadwinner* | $7,500,000 | $7,500,000 | N/A | 3,252 |
6. The Devil Wears Prada 2 | $5,900,000 | $209,351,594 | 4 | 2,650 |
7. Pressure* | $5,750,000 | $5,750,000 | N/A | 1,829 |
8. The Sheep Detectives | $4,632,804 | $54,536,613 | 5 | 2,810 |
9. Passenger | $2,600,000 | $15,269,000 | 6 | 2,534 |
10. Mortal Kombat II | $2,000,000 | $77,747,000 | 7 | 1,603 |
Backrooms Sets Records In Shocking Debut
Let’s consider what a big deal Backrooms’ $81.5 million opening is. So, last week, The Mandalorian and Grogu premiered to $82 million in significantly more theaters. One of these films cost $10 million to make; the other, $165 million. Pedro Pascal’s Star Wars movie comes from one of the most popular film franchises of all time, while Backrooms is a found-footage horror that critics struggled to describe in their reviews.
That's not even to mention that The Mandalorian and Grogu took a nasty 69% dive in its second weekend.
What this means for the movie industry as a whole remains to be seen — nearly 85% of Backrooms' audience was under age 35 (RIP theater etiquette) — but some things are certain. According to Variety:
- Backrooms has A25’s largest opening weekend ever (beating Civil War’s $25.5 million in 2024.
- It is the biggest debut in history for original horror.
- It’s the best start for a first-time filmmaker on a non-franchise film.
- Kane Parsons, 20, is the youngest director to have the No. 1 film at the box office (beating Chronicle’s Josh Trank, who was 27 when the film debuted in 2012 with $22 million).
It even crossed into nine-figure global territory, as the new A24 horror movie added $36.5 million overseas, giving it a worldwide 3-day premiere of $118 million.
What In The One Wish Willow Is Going On With Obsession?
It was nearly unprecedented to see the jump that Obsession made between its first two weekends of release, so there’s absolutely no reason other than sorcery that this movie would see another increase after three weekends. And yet, here we are. The movie that has us deep-diving into Nikki theories and debating that ending has now crossed the $100 million threshold in North America after seeing a 10% increase in this weekend’s box office earnings:
| Header Cell - Column 0 | WEEKEND 1 (May 15-17) | WEEKEND 2 (May 22-24) | WEEKEND 3 (May 29-30) | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Domestic earnings | $17.2 million | $24 million | $26.4 million | $104.8 million |
Obsession is the first movie since 1982’s E.T. The Extraterrestrial to see ticket sales increase in its second and third weekends, Deadline reports. This kind of unprecedented success is very interesting for YouTube's aspiring filmmakers, especially given what Backrooms was able to accomplish and how well Mark Fischbach (aka Markiplier) did earlier this year with Iron Lung.
The YouTuber self-financed Iron Lung, directed and starred in it, earning $50 million against a $3 million budget. (I saw it at the behest of my 15-year-old, and it was quite the mindbending experience. And so, so bloody.)
There’s Room For Everyone In The Horror Space
I wrote last week that I was concerned Backrooms might suffer from Obsession’s growing audience, thinking if horror fans had to choose one over the other, they might go with the super buzzy title. Wrong! Clearly Backrooms did not suffer, and neither did Obsession. Are people out there doing the Backsession double feature?
Now, I’m definitely going to have my eye on what happens next weekend with another upcoming horror movie joining the mix. Scary Movie, the sixth installment of the parody series, hits theaters this weekend, so how will horror-loving audiences split themselves this time?
The Breadwinner Loses Its Bread After Bad Reviews
The horror movies may not have cannibalized each other at the box office this weekend, but they certainly didn’t do any favors to the other new releases. In The Breadwinner’s case, though, that might have been more its own fault, as reviews were tepid at best for comedian Nate Bargatze’s big-screen debut. Low-end projections had the movie making around $19 million, but it finished the weekend with an estimated $7.5 million. Let’s see how critics and audiences rated this week’s releases:
RANK/TITLE | RT CRITICS | RT AUDIENCE | CINEMASCORE |
|---|---|---|---|
1. Backrooms | 89% | 74% | B- |
5. The Breadwinner | 28% | 87% | A- |
7. Pressure | 87% | 95% | A |
Audiences clearly found a lot more to like about The Breadwinner than critics, so maybe word-of-mouth advertising will keep it from falling too far next weekend. Pressure also got high marks, and I wouldn't be surprised to see moviegoers spending D-Day with Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott, learning about the weather forecast that changed the world.
So what new releases will these movies be up against?
Can Scary Movie 6 Keep The Spooky Vibes Alive?
Scary Movie 6 leads the projections for next weekend, but does He-Man have the power to break up the horrorfest? Here's what Box Office Theory predicts for the upcoming releases:
- Scary Movie 6: $41 million to $52 million
- Masters of the Universe: $25 million to $35 million
- The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act: $10 million to $16 million
We're also still on Michael watch, as the Michael Jackson biopic inches closer to surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody ($911 million) for the highest-grossing music biopic of all time globally. This week we're at $846.3 million, and with Japan's premiere coming June 12, I think it's only a matter of weeks now.
Things have been pretty wild at the box office lately, and it's only going to get better with so many big releases still to come. Find me every Sunday for a look at the top 10 movies and a breakdown of the numbers.
