A24’s Backrooms Overtakes Spielberg’s Close Encounters at U.S. Box Office

Box Office Mojo's official numbers show A24's Backrooms has passed Steven Spielberg's 1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind at the domestic box office. Backrooms has topped the $143 million mark, while Close Encounters grossed $116.3 million during its initial 1977 run (a later Special Edition re-release added $15.3 million).

The A24 adaptation of the viral Backrooms phenomenon, based on the analog-horror creepypasta, has become the indie studio’s most successful film to date, both domestically and worldwide. At just 20, Kane Parsons is now the youngest filmmaker to reach No. 1 at the U.S.

box office. Close Encounters marked Spielberg’s first major alien film. After years of development and a decision to shoot much of the picture on soundstages, the director wrote and mounted an ambitious production that exceeded its budget and schedule before opening in November 1977 and earning him his first Best Director Oscar nomination.

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