Renate Reinsve in “Backrooms.”
A24
Kane Parsons’ Backrooms is off to a blazing start in theaters, something that will no doubt alter A24’s strategy when it comes to the film’s digital streaming release.
Directed by YouTube filmmaker Parsons based on his Backrooms web series, Backrooms opened in theaters on Friday and is projected by Deadline and Variety to earn anywhere from $85 million to $90 million through Sunday.
The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark, a struggling used furniture store owner who, after a recurring power glitch in the businss, goes down to the basement of his retail space. It’s there that Clark discovers an interdimensional portal that leads to a maze of creepy liminal spaces that contain strange objects and evil beings.
After Clark shares his experience in the spaces — known as The Backrooms — with his therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve), she at first doubts her client. However, when Mary receives a mysterious message from Clark about being trapped in The Backrooms, she enters the liminal spaces to find him and encounters the terrifying entities who exist within.
Backrooms was released by A24, the indie studio that in the past couple of years produced such notable films as the dystopian action thriller Civil War, the Hugh Grant horror thriller Heretic and the Jenna Ortega horror comedy Death of a Unicorn.
More recently, A24 released Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar-nominated sports comedy Marty Supreme, and Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s romantic drama The Drama.
Like many studios, A24 tends to follow a pattern that dictates when their theatrical releases are released on digital streaming via premium video on demand. However, the level of success of some A24 theatrical releases on occasion expands the studio’s theatrical-to-PVOD release window.
Generally, there’s about a month window — 32 days, to be exact — between the time A24’s films premiere in theaters and the day they debut on PVOD. For example, Heretic arrived on PVOD on Dec. 10, 2024, 32 days after its Nov. 8, 2024, theatrical release; while Death of a Unicorn debuted on PVOD on April 29, 2025, 32 days after it opened in theaters on March 28, 2025.
Most recently, The Drama arrived on PVOD on May 5, 32 days after the film’s April 3 theatrical release.
So, does that mean viewers can expect to see Backrooms on PVOD 32 days after it’s May 29 opening, which would be Tuesday, June 30? Not exactly.
A24’s Bigger Hits Tend To Have A Longer Theatrical-To-PVOD Window
No matter if Backrooms ends up making $85 million or $90 million this weekend, the film has already secured the biggest opening weekend ever for an A24 film. Prior to this, Civil War held that distinction when it earned $25.5 million, domestically, in its opening weekend April 12-14 in 2024.
Civil War went on to earn $127.4 million worldwide ($68.7 domestic, $58.6 internationally), making it A24’s highest grossing releases. As such, the success of the film also resulted in a longer theatrical-to-PVOD window. So, Civil War, which opened on April 12, 2024, didn’t arrive on PVOD until 42 days later, on May 24, 2024.
Another example of a longer A24 theatrical-to-PVOD window is Marty Supreme, which arrived on PVOD on Feb. 10, 48 days after the film opened wide in North American theaters on Dec. 25, 2025. Marty Supreme became the highest grossing A24 film to date during its theatrical run, earning $96 million in domestic ticket sales and $53.8 million internationally for a worldwide box office tally of $149.8 million.
Of course, with its estimated blockbuster opening of as much as $90 million, it’s pretty safe to say that Backrooms is poised to become A24’s next highest-grossing film. Given the precedent set by the successes of Civil War and Marty Supreme, viewers should expect Backrooms to have the same sort of theatrical-to-PVOD window and arrive in the home entertainment marketplace after 45 days in theaters, which would mean a July 14 digital streaming release.
Coincidentally, the 45-day theatrical-to-PVOD window is becoming more of an industry standard with the major studios. The timeframe was recently adopted by Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures will put it into play in 2027.
Since A24 is an indie studio, it’s unlikely that it will jump on the industry bandwagon, but the company has certainly shown that they are willing to keep movies exclusive to theatergoers longer when ticket sales are strong.
As for when Backrooms will arrive on streaming video on demand on HBO Max (A24 has a Pay 1 Window SVOD agreement for nearly all of its titles the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming platform), the theatrical-to-SVOD window is generally the same for all of the studio’s films whether they’re a big hit in theaters (Marty Supreme) or not (Death of a Unicorn).
Since it typically takes about three-and-a-half to four months after A24’s films to arrive on HBO Max, Backrooms should arrive on SVOD on the platform anytime between Sept. 18 and Oct. 5, since new titles typically arrive on the subscription streaming service on Fridays.
Rated R, Backrooms is playing in theaters nationwide.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2026/05/31/why-backrooms-box-office-will-likely-change-a24s-streaming-strategy/
