‘Backrooms’ Reaps 20 Times Its Budget in Profit, Surpasses 1 Million in South Korea—First Record in 7 Years for Foreign-Language Horror

A digital labyrinth summoned from the margins of memory, shattering the map of the screen

The primal fear of isolation and the unknown that lies hidden within modern people finally broke through the screen and swallowed up the crowds of reality. The horror film 'Backrooms', stirring a strange new blue in the theater scene, has surpassed 1 million domestic ticketgoers. According to the Integrated Ticketing System for Admission Tickets at Cinemas, it drew about 12,000 viewers the day before, delivering the achievement. It is a landmark record reached for the first time in seven years since director Jordan Peele’s 'Us' (2019) in the foreign-language horror and thriller genres. As the distributor Bypoem Studio assessed, it can be seen as a powerful “last-resort medicine” poured into a genre-film market that had been in decline.

The box-office explosion of 'Backrooms', released last month on the 27th, comes entirely from word of mouth among the strictly digital-native generation. Looking at age-based advance-ticket sales distribution at CGV, the share of viewers in their 20s stands at 39%, taking an overwhelming No. 1 spot. Teenagers (19%) and those in their 30s (19%) follow. This is a sign that the anonymous urban legend that once floated in internet spaces has been elevated beyond a mere box-office indicator into a massive social meme that represents the collective unconscious of today’s young adults.

Based on the internet city legend of the same name, 'Backrooms' depicts in dense detail the struggle of humans trapped in an unknowable space with no exit. In particular, the fact that director 'Kane Parsons', who presented the visual prototype of this bizarre labyrinth through the medium of YouTube and sparked a worldwide sensation, took the helm himself gave the text both authenticity and credibility at the same time. The endless stretch of worn yellow wallpaper and the crackling sound of fluorescent lights flashing irregularly are almost a perfect metaphor for the existential anxiety of those of us trapped in a maze of modern capitalism with no exit.

That blend of humanistic insight and sensory direction translated directly into achievements by capital that transcend borders. According to the U.S. box office aggregator Moviebox Office Mojo, 'Backrooms' pulled in an astronomical worldwide revenue of $249 million (about 370 billion won). This figure, which exceeds the film’s production budget by 20 times—where the budget is just $10 million—gave it an unprecedented title as the highest-grossing film of all time among 'A24' productions, the birthplace of well-made auteurism. We are now standing at the front line of a new cinematic paradigm in which an original digital IP dismantles and then reassembles the traditional Hollywood playbook.