Chiwetel Ejiofor in “Backrooms.”
A24
The reboot of the Wayans Bros.’ horror spoof Scary Movie is scaring away Backrooms after one week at the top of the domestic box office.
Backrooms, the surreal horror thriller from YouTube director Kane Parsons, shocked Hollywood in its opening weekend by overperforming at the box office on its way to an $81 million domestic take in its opening frame.
Also delivering big last weekend was Obsession, the buzzy horror thriller from Parsons’ fellow YouTube filmmaker Curry Barker. Together, the duo delivered a catastrophic gut punch to Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, which dropped 69% in business domestically from its opening three-day frame May 21-23.
Backrooms is projected to drop 67% from its opening frame for a second weekend take of $26.5 million from 3,565 North American theaters for a third-place finish.
While the big drop in business is near to The Mandalorian and Grogu’s second weekend dive, executives from Backrooms’ studio, A24, are probably not sweating the news too much. Should the Deadline projection hold, Backrooms will boost its domestic tally to $135.6 million by Sunday against a $10 million production budget before marketing costs, so the film is sitting comfortably in profitability.
By contrast, The Mandalorian and Grogu had a $165 million budget before marketing, so the steep drop in second weekend business no doubt hurt its studio, Disney, a lot more.
Meanwhile, Scary Movie, the sixth horror movie parody from the Wayans Bros. since the film series originated in 2001, is projected by Deadline to earn $52.7 million from 3,490 theaters from Friday to Sunday to seize the domestic box office crown. The Paramount Pictures release, per Variety, has a $19 million production budget before marketing.
Marlon Wayans in “Scary Movie.”
Paramount Pictures
‘Masters Of The Universe’ Opens Near Pre-Release Projections
Amazon MGM Studios’ live-action Masters of the Universe, based on the Mattel toy line and subsequent cartoon series, is projected by Deadline to earn $31.1 million in its opening weekend from 3,677 North American venues for a second place finish.
The projected tally for the action fantasy movie falls in line with most trade publications’ pre-release projections of a $30 million to $35 million domestic bow. Starring Nicholas Galitzine as the muscular hero He-Man, Masters of the Universe had a $200 million budget (via Variety) before marketing, so it faces a tough uphill climb in the coming weeks.
Coming in at No. 4 is Curry Barker’s Obsession, which is still maintaining an incredible hold at the box office. After a 39% increase in business in its second weekend and a 14% increase in that number in weekend 3, Deadline is projecting that Obsession will drop only 9% in business for a $24.8 million domestic take in its fourth weekend frame.
Should the projection hold, it will boost the Focus Features release to $151.3 million domestically, against the film’s $750,000 production budget.
Note: This article will be updated throughout the weekend with more numbers and information as it becomes available. The final numbers for this weekend’s box office will be released on Monday.