‘Obsession’ And ‘Backrooms’ Prove Micro Budget Horror Can Outperform Hollywood

Typically, summer box office charts are filled with familiar titles, animated sequels, and massive blockbusters designed for maximum spectacle. However, this year’s July 4th weekend reveals a different narrative, showcasing two indie horror films that are outpacing big-budget competitors.

According to the current global box office rankings, ‘Minions and Monsters’ and ‘Toy Story 5’ unsurprisingly occupy the top two positions, raking in over 121 million and 100 million dollars respectively for the weekend. However, further down the list, two titles have emerged as the real summer sensations: ‘Obsession’ and ‘Backrooms,’ both of which began as passion projects from young creators on the internet.

Directed by Curry Barker, ‘Obsession’ was produced for just 750,000 dollars before Focus Features acquired it for 15 million. It has now surpassed 400 million dollars globally, adding another 17.4 million dollars in its latest frame. This remarkable success is almost unprecedented for a film of its budget, making ‘Obsession’ the highest-grossing release in Focus Features history, even surpassing Angel Studios’ faith-based hit ‘Sound of Freedom’ in terms of longevity.

Much of this success can be attributed to breakout star Inde Navarrette, whose portrayal of Nikki Freeman has been highlighted by numerous outlets as a key reason the film continues to attract new audiences well beyond its opening weekend. Her performance has helped ‘Obsession’ achieve repeated weekend increases, a trend that industry analysts have noted is quite unusual for the horror genre.

Following closely is ‘Backrooms,’ the film adaptation of Kane Parsons’ viral YouTube series about eerie, endless liminal spaces. It has now grossed over 350 million dollars worldwide against a budget of around 10 million dollars. The film debuted with an impressive 118 million dollars globally, marking the largest opening in A24’s 14-year history and making Parsons, who was just 20 at the time, the youngest filmmaker to debut a movie at number one at the box office.

This opening shattered the previous record held by Alex Garland’s ‘Civil War,’ and ‘Backrooms’ has since become A24’s highest-grossing release ever, even surpassing last year’s Timothée Chalamet film ‘Marty Supreme.’ Analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations remarked that the film’s domestic opening above 80 million dollars was unexpected, attributing part of its success to the extensive online mythology surrounding Parsons’ original web series.

The success of both films is particularly remarkable given their unconventional paths to release. Parsons built his following independently on YouTube before A24, Chernin Entertainment, and producers like James Wan and Shawn Levy brought his concept to the big screen. Similarly, Barker developed an audience online before Focus Features picked up ‘Obsession’ following festival acclaim. Both projects also share a connection through Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Atomic Monster, which contributed to bringing each film to theaters.

Meanwhile, ‘Supergirl’ continues to struggle, adding just 19 million dollars for a domestic total of 100.4 million against reported production costs exceeding 170 million dollars. Newcomers ‘Young Washington’ and ‘Disclosure Day’ had modest debuts of 20.8 million and 12.1 million dollars respectively. In this context, the ongoing success of these two low-budget horror films is even more pronounced.

With ‘Backrooms’ hinting at franchise potential and ‘Obsession’ showing no signs of slowing down months after its release, both films serve as compelling examples of how internet-driven fandom can translate into real theatrical success. Whether Hollywood will learn from this trend or dismiss it as a one-off remains to be seen, but for now, these two micro-budget hits are outlasting films with budgets they could never hope to match.

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