‘Backrooms’ Turns an Online Obsession Into Box-Office Gold
6/12/202621 min
Two scrappy horror films are taking Hollywood by surprise. “Backrooms” and “Obsession” have wildly exceeded expectations at the box office. Both spring from internet culture and have brought an unprecedented numbers of Gen Z-ers into theaters. WSJ's Ben Fritz explains what this new wave means for the movie business. Jessica Mendoza hosts.
Further Listening:
- Why Hollywood Can't Find Good Scripts
- Hollywood Jobs Are Disappearing
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJessica Mendoza· Host0:00
[upbeat music] All spring, our colleague Ben Fritz's 14-year-old son has been bugging him to see one particular movie.
Ben Fritz· Guest0:12
My son knows that I sometimes can snag tickets to premieres or early screenings.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:17
Ben covers the entertainment industry, and the movie in question was a horror film called Backrooms.
Ben Fritz· Guest0:24
That's how I first learned this film existed, was he started asking me if I could get him into the earliest possible screening, ideally into the premiere.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:31
[upbeat music] Backrooms started as an idea on the internet, and along with millions of other teenagers, Ben's son had closely tracked Backrooms' evolution online.
Ben Fritz· Guest0:43
This wasn't just like, "Oh, this is a cool movie." This is, like, you know, a big screen expansion of this whole mythology that has been really meaningful to him for several years.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:54
Ben actually did get tickets to the premiere, and he was amazed by how much his son had to say about the film.
Ben Fritz· Guest1:02
He was like, "Oh, well you have to understand that in this scene, like- [laughs] ... what this, what this image represents is X.
Jessica Mendoza· Host1:09
Mm-hmm.
Ben Fritz· Guest1:09
And it's kind of similar to his videos, but it's different in this way."
Jessica Mendoza· Host1:12
So was he talking to you the entire time to explain what's happening?
Ben Fritz· Guest1:15
[laughs] No, he, he's, you know, I've, I, I've... We've raised him in Los Angeles. He knows you have to keep your mouth shut in a movie theater.
Jessica Mendoza· Host1:20
[laughs] Okay, good.
Ben Fritz· Guest1:21
But a- afterward, he could not keep his mouth shut. [laughs] He couldn't stop talking to me.
Jessica Mendoza· Host1:25
Ben was struck by all this excitement. His son's a member