A24’s surprise horror hit ‘Backrooms’ is about to surprise even more businesses over the July 4th holiday. The indie studio is re-releasing ‘Backrooms’ with 15 minutes of bonus footage in a bid to bring back fans.
In the listing on AMC’s website, the film has been renamed “Backrooms: Everything Must Go Edition.” The seller explains that the film has “exclusive post-credits in theaters” and includes additional footage from the film’s 20-year-old director, Kane Parsons. Parsons surprised Hollywood because of the movie’s huge success and because he had built an impressive group of followers through YouTube videos he shot while still a teenager. The new version of “Backrooms” is 2 hours and 6 minutes long and will be released in theaters on July 3rd.
Produced for just $10 million, “Backrooms” grossed more than $330 million worldwide, making it A24’s highest-grossing film in history and one of the year’s highest-grossing films.
The film tells the story of a furniture store owner (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who discovers an infinite liminal space in the basement of his store. Renate Reinsve plays his therapist, and the ensemble includes Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell.
Backroom isn’t the only low-budget horror hit this summer. Focus also scored on “Obsession,” written by 26-year-old Callie Barker, who also started her career on YouTube. The film grossed over $370 million worldwide and cost $750,000 to make.
The re-release of “Backrooms” is being released to coincide with the busiest movie-going weekend of the year. In addition to competing with summer hits such as Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” Universal and Illumination will release “Despicable Me” spinoff “Minions & Monsters” over the holidays.
A spokesperson for A24 did not respond to a request for comment.
