A 20-Year-Old Filmmaker, an Internet Legend, and Rs 1.50 Crore — Backrooms Has Arrived in India

If you’ve spent any time in the darker corners of the internet, you already know the Backrooms — those eerie, endless yellow-carpeted rooms that sparked one of the most unsettling viral horror phenomenons of the decade. Now, the film adaptation directed by Kane Parsons, the 20-year-old prodigy who turned a YouTube short into a Hollywood deal with A24, has officially hit Indian screens. Day 1 numbers are in, and while modest, the story is far from over.

Backrooms India Box Office — Day 1 Breakdown

A Fair Start, But Context Matters

Backrooms kicked off its box office journey in India on a low-but-fair note. The movie collected Rs. 1.10 crore on Friday, after minting Rs. 40 lakh in Thursday midnight previews, making a sum of Rs. 1.50 crore gross at the Indian box office. The film could have done better, but the release is limited to bigger centres only.

This is the crucial detail. A limited release across only major metros naturally caps the opening day ceiling. Horror films — especially those with a strong word-of-mouth potential — tend to grow through the weekend as the “have you seen it?” effect kicks in. Rs. 1.50 crore on Day 1, under these conditions, is genuinely respectable.

Can It Pull a Backrooms-to-Obsession Run?

Based on current trends, Backrooms is heading to close its first weekend around Rs. 6 crore gross. The film opened big in the US two weeks ago, plus with the ongoing Hollywood win streak in India, it had raised some expectations, but the release size probably kept it from realising those.

The natural comparison being drawn is with Obsession — another A24-backed psychological thriller that defied expectations and has now crossed Rs. 58 crore in India across 14 days. It will be interesting to see whether the movie can follow the box office trajectory of Obsession in India, which continues to dominate the box office even in its 4th weekend. However, it doesn’t necessarily need to match that film to call it a successful run.

The Bigger Picture: Hollywood’s Golden Run in India

Hollywood movies are having a golden run in India this year, with multiple non-IP and small-budgeted films striking the right chords with the Indian audience. With a couple of tentpole Hollywood releases already waiting to explode in India, 2026 can become the most profitable year for the industry. Newsweek

Indian audiences are clearly hungry for fresh, unconventional cinema — and Backrooms carries exactly the kind of cult-internet DNA that could translate powerfully through word-of-mouth.

For the latest Hollywood and Bollywood box office updates, keep reading at TechnoSports.

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