Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

variety.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 201 posts

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#141

Post by matthewdgreen »

fontain wrote: post #22
ramenat2am wrote: post #12

That really shows the hunger for original stories and IC among cinephiles. Major studios were too afraid to produce something fresh instead of numberless sequels and reboots in the last decade or so.

Does it qualify as something fresh? I guess fresh to cinemas but it is well established IP that has a readymade audience. Certainly a risk compared to Spider-Man: Another Adventure Again but the risk was in the execution. A lot like the Slenderman movie. Something like Iron Lung would be a better example of fresh cinema?

I'd never heard of any of the YouTube stuff and I was hooked by the premise. Whereas my son wanted to see Iron Lung because of the game.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#142

Post by morgoo »

legitster wrote: post #79
darth_avocado wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matt Damon talked about this somewhere. The risk aversion stems from the move away from DVD sales. Historically a lot of low and mid budget movies relied on DVD sales to recoup costs even if theater releases didn’t get you as much money as you expected. With the safety net gone, studios don’t want to take the risk. They make big budget movies with massive marketing budgets that rely on known IP and established fan ba…

I think this explanation is incomplete. There were still plenty of mid-size movies after the DVD era that still had profitable theatrical releases. The prototypical example to me is Baby Driver. Pre-Covid there was simply not enough major weekends to release a big movie. They end up competing with each other. Sure, Baby Driver made $300m on a $40m budget. But for pure profit maximization you are better off making a b…

But if you make 10 $40m movies and 2 of them make $300m you've spent less for more revenue and a lot more profit, and that's assuming the other 8 make exactly $0

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#143

Post by esseph »

freejazz wrote: post #112
lmm wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you can run Steam on Linux. You don't have to worry about whether they're going to discontinue the cheap Steam Box you were relying on. And they have built up credibility from decades of not pulling the rug, in a way that Apple hasn't and probably can't.

> But you can run Steam on Linux And how many people run linux that this is even relevant?

> Despite astronomical price hike, the Steam Deck has sold out again in North America

> May 28, 2026

https://mastersingaming.com/2026/05/28/despite-astronomical-...

Not to mention reading this on Linux with Steam in the background.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#144

Post by CGMthrowaway »

weird-eye-issue wrote: post #133
hangsi wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is from the interview on Hot Ones (released August 5, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaXma6K9mzo&t=816s > Sean Evans: > I think a scenario lots of viewers can relate to is sitting on the couch on a Friday night, going through the streaming services, cycling through the movies and thinking to themselves "they're not making movies for me anymore". As somebody who's been intimately involved in movie making…

But there must be residual revenue over time from the streaming services, I guess it's just a lot lower on average?

Same thing happened with music and CDs vs streaming

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#146

Post by CGMthrowaway »

torben-friis wrote: post #18
petercooper wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This year seems to be turning a bit of a corner. Of the top box office movies so far this year there's Michael, Project Hail Mary, Hoppers, Wuthering Heights, GOAT.. with Obsession and Backrooms rapidly rising. Last year it was basically F1 and Minecraft (and while not sequels, both are arguably well known "franchises" outside of movies - but I guess MJ and Wuthering Heights are too ;-)).

Wuthering Heights was a remake, and Hail Mary was also a safeish bet since it's a novel by the same guy as The Martian. Not to say that it isn't an improvement, but we're still pretty far from seeing American cinema catching up to the world stage in originality, let alone to the golden Hollywood era.

I remember reading Project Hail Mary years before the movie was announced, and thinking "this is written, if not exactly as a screenplay, in such a way to make it SO easy to adapt to a screenplay that given this is from the Martian author there is no way this will not be made as a movie"

I enjoyed both the book and the movie btw

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#147

Post by jakebasile »

ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #145

What is the recommended way to watch this? Watch the movie first AND THEN try to see the YouTube content, or vice-versa?

I saw the film without seeing the YouTube stuff and didn't feel like I missed out on anything. The film is self contained (and excellent).

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#148

Post by [deleted] »

lazypenguin wrote: post #32
darth_avocado wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matt Damon talked about this somewhere. The risk aversion stems from the move away from DVD sales. Historically a lot of low and mid budget movies relied on DVD sales to recoup costs even if theater releases didn’t get you as much money as you expected. With the safety net gone, studios don’t want to take the risk. They make big budget movies with massive marketing budgets that rely on known IP and established fan ba…

It’s because nobody has made Steam for Movies. Let me have a movie collection that I can buy movies $1-$5 per movie and never lose it and I promise you I will buy a lot more movies. Just like people buy hundreds of steam games

[deleted]

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#149

Post by e40 »

righthand wrote: post #42
mrkpdl wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iTunes movie store launched 20 years ago. It’s far from perfect but it is essentially steam for movies. Sadly it’s been de-emphasised over time. But it is still there and was pretty good for a while.

The iTunes movie store is not friendly outside of the Apple ecosystem. Making the entire idea not really affordable since you need a expensive electronic device to utilize it sanely. Might as well find another way to get to it at that point.

It’s not even friendly inside the Apple ecosystem.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#150

Post by bluefirebrand »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #136
mrandish wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Mandalorian TV series wasn't bad but the Star Wars franchise has been in reset/turnaround for ~7 YEARS (since the last movie). It's incomprehensible that Disney bet their relaunch on a spin-off streaming series based on a tertiary character miraculously swimming back upstream from online to cinema. The two leads are a guy you never see and a small puppet (with the big reveal new character being a CGI alien). As g…

Andor is the now the gold standard for Star Wars productions - serious themes, adult oriented, great writing and top tier acting. The Mandalorian was definitely aimed at a younger audience.

I think Mando season 1 is what Star Wars should be. A space themed throwback to old pulp novels, cowboys and samurai and pirates, with a veneer of lasers and spaceships painted on top.

Andor is great, don't get me wrong. But Star Wars is best when it's pulp adventure stuff.

Post reply on HN