After a massive box office run, the 2026 horror Backrooms finally hits streaming
After becoming A24’s highest-grossing film, Backrooms has locked its HBO Max streaming date—here’s when you can press play.
Mark your calendar: Backrooms will start streaming on Max (the service formerly known as HBO Max ) on September 25, following a theatrical run that turned the internet-born nightmare into a full-on box-office juggernaut. Directed by YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Kane Parsons and starring Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor, the feature builds on Parsons’ viral web series and the “liminal spaces” mythos that first exploded online. Variety first reported the streaming date.
Streaming begins September 25 on Max.
From creepypasta to cinema
The movie pulls from the Backrooms lore — endless yellow hallways, humming fluorescents, and something inhuman just out of view — and scales it up for the big screen. In the film, a failing furniture store owner named Clark slips through a tear beneath his shop and into the maze, where the space itself seems to feed on fear and memory.
His therapist, Dr. Mary Kline, follows him into the Backrooms to bring him home, only to face warped echoes of her own past. What starts as a rescue mission becomes a two-hander about buried trauma and the dangerous pull of an impossible place that doesn’t want you to leave.
How big did it get?
The numbers are staggering. According to box-office tallies, Backrooms has earned $396.59 million worldwide — $197.52 million in the U.S. and $199.06 million overseas — after a company-record $81.4 million domestic opening weekend. It has since been cited as A24’s highest-grossing film to date.
Key international markets included:
- United Kingdom — $17.68 million
- France — $12.22 million
- Germany — $8.30 million
- Spain — $7.51 million
- Italy — $5.89 million
- Poland — $5.66 million
Born as a web phenomenon of fan videos, games, and short-form scares, the film’s feature-length take kept the uncanny mood intact while giving the mythology a clear narrative spine through Clark and Mary’s intertwined stories.
Backrooms lands on Max on September 25.