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“Backrooms,” A24’s surprise horror hit, is looking to scare up more business 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 a
listing on AMC’s website, the film has been rechristened the “Backrooms: Everything Must Go Edition.” The exhibitor describes it as having a “theatrically exclusive post-credit” with additional footage from Kane Parsons, the film’s 20-year-old director. Parsons stunned Hollywood, both because of the film’s outsized success and because he had built up an impressive group of followers through the YouTube videos he shot while still a teenager. The new version of “Backrooms” will clock in at 2 hours and 6 minutes and hits theaters on July 3.
Produced for just $10 million, “Backrooms” has grossed more than $330 million worldwide, becoming the highest grossing film in A24’s history, as well as one of the year’s most profitable releases.
The film follows a furniture store operator (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who discovers an endless array of liminal spaces in the store’s basement. Renate Reinsve plays his therapist, and the ensemble includes Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell.
“Backrooms” isn’t the only low-budget horror hit this summer. Focus also scored with “Obsession,” which was made by 26-year-old Curry Barker, who also got his start on YouTube. That film has gone to gross more than $370 million globally and cost $750,000 to produce.
The re-release of “Backrooms” will open in time for one of the busiest moviegoing weekends of the year. In addition to competing with summer hits like Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” Universal and Illumination will release “Minions & Monsters,” a spinoff of “Despicable Me” over the holiday.
A spokesperson for A24 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
