Record-Breaking A24 Horror Movie Leads To Major Summer Box Office Upset

Published Sep 20, 2026, 12:46 PM EDT

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

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Per Variety, the smash hit A24 horror movie Backrooms - which recently hit the $400 million milestone worldwide after 12 weeks in theaters - has helped propel the independent media company to an unexpected upset at the domestic box office. A24 was the No. 4 distributor over the summer blockbuster season in terms of domestic market share thanks to $237 million from its theatrical releases, beating the market shares of the major studios Warner Bros. ($165 million) and Paramount ($192 million).

While A24 was bested by Disney ($664 million, mostly generated by Toy Story 5), Sony ($978.8 million thanks primarily to Spider-Man: Brand New Day), and Universal ($1.12 billion, propelled by Obsession and The Odyssey), it has managed to compete at a level that is unusually high for the company, which is not generally known for summer blockbusters.

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