A24 Surpasses Warner Bros. and Paramount This Summer Thanks to ‘Backrooms’

The summer box office has long been dominated by a select few major studios, with franchise sequels and established intellectual properties leading the charge while smaller distributors scramble for the leftovers. This trend has persisted for decades, creating an expectation that the hierarchy at the top would remain unchanged.

However, this year’s statistics reveal a significantly different narrative. Data from The Hollywood Reporter indicates that Universal, Disney, and Sony collectively accounted for about 70% of the summer’s domestic box office, raking in $1.208 billion, $1.019 billion, and $956 million respectively, thereby solidifying their dominance in the overall totals.

Yet, it is the performance just below this upper echelon that is capturing attention across the industry. A24 achieved a 5.5% market share, surpassing Warner Bros. at 5% and Paramount at 4.5%, marking a historic moment as the first time an indie distributor has outperformed a Big Five studio during the summer.

A24’s impressive rise to $242 million domestically this summer can be traced back to one standout film. ‘Backrooms,’ directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons and inspired by his viral web series about unsettling, infinite liminal spaces, debuted with an astonishing $81 million from 3,442 theaters, marking A24’s largest opening weekend ever and more than tripling the previous record set by 2024’s ‘Civil War.’

Produced for around $10 million in collaboration with co-financier Chernin Entertainment, ‘Backrooms’ has since become A24’s highest-grossing film ever, both domestically and globally, surpassing Timothée Chalamet’s ‘Marty Supreme.’ The film’s success is remarkable given its modest budget, providing A24 with a franchise-level hit without the hefty spending usually required to compete with major studios.

Trailing A24 in the summer rankings, Warner Bros. generated $234 million domestically, while Paramount followed closely with $204.5 million. This narrow margin signifies a notable shift in the summer box office landscape. Lionsgate reported $265 million, Amazon MGM brought in $170 million, and Fathom Entertainment concluded with $47.4 million.

A24’s ascent isn’t merely a one-off phenomenon linked solely to ‘Backrooms.’ The studio’s success coincided with a summer where low-budget original films disrupted the traditional box office success formula, with Focus Features’ horror hit ‘Obsession’ also achieving record numbers for its label during the same period.

This trend sparks a broader industry discussion about what truly attracts audiences to theaters. Instead of relying solely on established franchises with massive marketing budgets, smaller, genuinely original concepts from directors with strong online followings have managed to outperform expectations against studios that spend significantly more per release.

With Paramount’s proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery still looming over the industry’s landscape, A24’s ability to outshine two of Hollywood’s most established studios this summer adds an unexpected twist to the ongoing conversation about the sources of genuine box office momentum as we move into the latter half of the year.

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