San Sebastian financiers warn against chasing Obsession and Backrooms
Film buyers and financiers gathered at the San Sebastian Film Festival have a warning for the business: do not chase the last two hits.
Speaking at the festival's Creative Investors' Conference, reported on 23 September, sales executives and financiers said the runs of Focus Features' Obsession and A24's Backrooms should not decide where the industry looks next, according to Variety.
Raj Singh of Media Capital Technologies called the two films individual "black swan events" that were highly unlikely to happen. Sarah Schweitzman, an executive at CAA Media Finance, put it more bluntly. "Nobody saw those two movies coming," she said.
The numbers explain why they turned heads. A24's Backrooms took an estimated $81 million in North America — domestic, meaning the United States and Canada — from 3,442 cinemas in its opening weekend to 31 May, studio estimates reported by Variety. That beat early tracking of $40 million to $50 million domestically. It set a new opening-weekend record for A24, ahead of Alex Garland's 2024 thriller Civil War with $25.5 million, and was described as the biggest debut for original horror and for a first-time director on a non-franchise film.
The film was directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons from a production budget of roughly $10 million. That made Parsons the youngest director to reach No. 1 at the box office, ahead of Josh Trank, who was 27 when 2012's Chronicle opened in first place with $22 million. Audiences skewed young. Nearly 85% were under 35 and more than 50% were 25 or younger, PostTrak data showed. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as a furniture store owner and Renate Reinsve as a therapist.
Curry Barker's Obsession had longer legs. It crossed $100 million domestically in its third weekend, playing in 2,781 cinemas, and earned $26.4 million domestically plus $13.8 million internationally for a $40.2 million global weekend to 31 May. Its global total stood at $148 million, reported by Deadline. In the same weekend, Disney's Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu fell 70% in its second weekend to third place, with $246.6 million globally, split as $137.4 million domestic and $109.2 million from abroad.
Black Bear International executive Laura Austin-Little told the San Sebastian panel that no genre can be ruled out with the right director and costs held in line with budget. The panel pointed to Elsinore, from Studiocanal and Focus Features, as an expected awards contender that could restore attention to drama, a genre often described as struggling in cinemas.
What makes this stand out is the pattern. Both Backrooms and YouTube creator Mark Fischbach's Iron Lung, which earned $50 million against a $3 million budget, arrived from online creators with built-in audiences. The message from San Sebastian is simple. Do not mistake one surprise for a formula.
