Backrooms: Everything You Need To Know About The A24 Movie

A24 is set to unleash a brand new, highly horrific spectacle in the form of "Backrooms." Want to know more about the studio's latest horror venture and its complex lore? Click the video above and we'll fill you in on all of the gnarly details. 

Based on an urban legend which has been saturating meme culture since 2019 and was subsequently developed into a live action horror short by Kane Parsons (aka Kane Pixels), "Backrooms" is a creepypasta that's evolved into a viral sensation and now a major motion picture. The film, also directed by Parsons, has an estimated $10 million budget and is being positioned as a horror tentpole flick for A24 as the summer box office season kicks into high gear. 

The feature-length take on the concept gives further narrative backbone to the eerie feeling of being caught and lost in a set of disused or never touched rooms located at the back of a public establishment. It centers on two people — Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a furniture store owner who disappears randomly one day, and his therapist, Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), who comes to the store to search for him after he vanishes. Unfortunately for Mary, she becomes as lost in the backrooms as he is, searching for a way out and a way back to reality. 

"Backrooms" is facing some stiff competition at the box office. it's set to drop on May 29, 2026, three weeks after "Mortal Kombat II" and one week after "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu." Depending on what sort of legs those two movies happen to have, things could be quite tricky for the considerably more modest genre flick. 

Adding to that challenge, May is also a busy month for horror: May 1 will see the release of "Hokum," a Neon release from indie horror sensation Damian McCarthy, while May 15 will bring the highly-anticipated second film from Curry Barker, "Obsession." And on May 22, Paramount Pictures will hit the road with "Passenger," from André Øvredal, director of the cult horror hit "The Autopsy of Jane Doe."

Four other mid-budget affairs are opening against "Backrooms": "The Breadwinner," in which Nate Bargatze becomes a stay-at-home dad when his wife hits it big on "Shark Tank." The other films are "The Furious," a crime thriller; "Pressure," a historical drama that chronicles the last 72 hours before D-Day; and the dark drama "The Currents." One week later, they'll all have major competition from the latest edition of "Scary Movie." Want to know more about the history of "Backrooms" before hitting the theater? Click our article above and take a deep dive into its storied history.