Indie Box Office Report Card: From ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession’ to ‘I Want Your Sex,’ Breaking Down the Summer’s Winners and Losers

There was a point in time when we thought the bottom might fall out from the indie and specialized box office, that the only things people were going to see anymore at the theater were IP-driven events and spectacles, that the mid-budget movie didn’t have a place in theatrical in a post-streaming world. But, this summer, audiences made new events out of “Obsession,” “Backrooms,” and other films that no one saw coming, and it started to reshape what Hollywood thinks about what audiences really want in the movie theater.

According to data from Rentrak, independent and mini-majors released 315 titles between May 1 and August 26, with those movies grossing a collective $795.6 million domestic. Considering the overall box office was $4.44 billion this summer, indies bringing in almost 18 percent of that haul isn’t too shabby.

But “Obsession” and “Backrooms” alone did staggering numbers that put them in a tier of their own, above everything else we would call the “indie box office.” Those two films together brought in 58 percent of the overall indie box office. And only 51 of those 315 movies surpassed $1 million domestic. You also had 158 titles that didn’t even reach $100,000 at the box office, and together those movies only brought in $3.8 million.

That should give a sense of the wide range of outcomes that are capable for indies. Still, there were some this year we thought would be sleeper hits that absolutely weren’t and others that surprised in limited or platform releases and are big successes, even if they didn’t put up massive numbers.

Below, we go through a few of those most notable titles, looking at the Great, the Good, the Meh, and the Ugly from this summer of indies.

(All numbers below are domestic cumulative totals via Rentrak.)

‘Backrooms’ Courtesy Everett Collection

The Great

“Obsession” – Focus Features – $263.4M

So much has already been written about the sensation that was Curry Barker’s “Obsession,” a movie bought for $15 million out of TIFF and produced on a budget of $750K that worldwide just surpassed $500 million. It’s the high bar for any movie acquired out of a festival and did the impossible feat of going up at the box office, not down, in its second and third weekends in theaters. It remained in the Top 10 for 11 weeks even as it faced stiff competition.

But consider in all that time it never hit No. 1 at the box office, putting it behind only “Sing” and “Oppenheimer” as the highest-grossing films to do that. That’s the sign of a movie with word-of-mouth, with longevity, and with real impact on the industry that only a handful of such movies of its size can boast.

“Backrooms” – A24 – $197.5M

Like “Obsession,” A24’s “Backrooms” hailed from a precocious, twenty-something filmmaker (Kane Parsons) with a YouTube background and a talent for finding fresh ways to scare the shit out of us. And it became one of the year’s biggest hits and most profitable films, earning a massive $395 million worldwide on a slender $10 million budget. For context, “Marty Supreme,” what is now A24’s second biggest hit, grossed $192 million globally and it had Timothée Chalamet in the title role. Now, everyone in Hollywood is looking for the next “Backrooms” or “Obsession.” As if that’s an easy thing to pull off.

“Hadestown: The Musical” – Bleecker Street and LD Entertainment – $20.7M

No, “Hadestown: The Musical” didn’t reach the rarefied heights of “Backrooms” and “Obsession,” but the filmed version of a West End show that’s been performed on stage for seven years did monster business. Billed as a limited, five-night-only run, “Hadestown: The Musical” ended up enjoying encore after encore, extending its time in cinemas for weeks. In the process, it easily topped the previous record-holder, “Hamilton,” to become the highest-grossing staged capture in history. And you know, all due respect to Orpheus and Eurydice, but that’s only the most popular musical of the past two decades. So yeah, Bleecker Street has a lot to celebrate.

‘The Invite’A24

The Good

“The Invite” – A24 – $25.2M

Sex sells. This couple-swapping, cringe comedy capitalized on glowing reviews to become an art house breakout, reestablishing director and star Olivia Wilde’s box office bona fides (she previously helmed “Booksmart” and “Don’t Worry Darling”). It also extended A24’s hit streak after the indie studio scored with “Backrooms” — the studio is poised to do it again with the Anthony Bourdain origin story “Tony.”

Coming out of Sundance, where “The Invite” scored a monster $12 million sale, there were questions about whether or not the film‘s lacerating banter and penetrating look at marriage could be embraced by wider audiences. Well, those fears were clearly unwarranted. The cherry on top could be awards attention not only for the film, but for a top-shelf cast that includes Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton.

“Tuner” – Black Bear – $4.5M

After a big miss with last year’s “Christy” as Black Bear’s inaugural film as a distributor, “Tuner” proved to be the sleeper indie that has not been getting a chance in theaters and is exactly why so many new distributors have been emerging. The film had a strong platform opening and never expanded to beyond 504 screens, yet it legged out to $4.5 million and did nearly as well as Black Bear’s “In the Grey,” a Guy Ritchie movie with a much more marketable premise and cast. Leo Woodall (and Daniel Roher) is proving to have a remarkable breakout year between this and “Tony,” and “Tuner” has done even better internationally, where it has brought in $14.4 million worldwide.

“Maddie’s Secret” – Magnolia – $1.2M

A little over a million dollars at the box office doesn’t sound like a resounding success, but for a John Waters-inspired and ’80s TV movie-coded campy satire with an alt-comic gay man portraying a mousy woman with an eating disorder, all on a budget of around $750K, it’s a dang miracle. Magnolia made a point to make every screening in which it played “Maddie’s Secret” an event for a very targeted and niche audience. John Early was on hand at numerous screenings, and the movie never opened beyond 149 screens after setting a near-record at the IFC Center in its opening. That’s what you call a bona fide cult hit.

Other contenders in this tier: “Young Washington” ($47M), “Tony” ($6.6M), and “Hokum” ($17M).

‘I Love Boosters’Neon

The Meh

“I Love Boosters” – Neon – $9.7M

It’s sad to see “I Love Boosters” not truly breakout when it’s clear it has so much grassroots support and passion from both creator and audience. The $9.7 million “I Love Boosters” did gross was a product of Boots Riley’s tireless campaigning online and explaining why audience support on opening weekend and beyond is crucial for a film like this, even when you have a champion like Neon in your corner.

When you consider that the film opened to just $3.7 million, the 2.5x multiple is very impressive, and its story is still being written when it opens internationally throughout the fall. But with a budget that has been pegged at $20 million, especially considering Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You” from 2018 made nearly twice what this film managed, it’s hard to boost “Boosters” up too much.

“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” – MUBI – $3.6M

If “I Saw the TV Glow” was the breakout for Jane Schoenbrun, we hoped “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” with a buzzier cast, a Cannes premiere, and a $10 million budget from MUBI, would take Schoenbrun to the next level of auteurs who could command even more at the box office. The platform results looked promising, posting a per-screen average of nearly $50K in its opening and going toe to toe with the considerably less bloody and queer “Tony.”

But its expansion has left much to be desired, and though it’s done all right abroad, it likely won’t outpace “I Saw the TV Glow” by much. MUBI can fall back on some added revenue once it hits streaming, but we’re disappointed this wasn’t the elevated horror event that “Obsession” or “Backrooms” became.

“Super Troopers 3” – Searchlight Pictures – $7.3M

Maybe it’s time for these Keystone Cops to turn in their badges. “Super Troopers 3” wasn’t a complete turkey, earning a so-so $7.7 million globally, but that’s a pretty steep drop-off from its predecessor, 2018’s “Super Troopers 2,” which earned $32 million globally, and the OG 2001 cinematic outing, “Super Troopers,” which pulled in $23 million worldwide three decades ago. Oh well, even the greatest franchises deserve a healthy retirement. Maybe it will play great on Hulu?

Other contenders in this tier: “Pressure” ($15.5M), “Leviticus” ($7.2M), and “Ice Cream Man” ($2.8M).

‘Her Private Hell’Courtesy Fantasia Fest

The Ugly

“Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” – Sony Pictures Classics – $1.4M

Yet another promising comedy that you would hope works in theaters has struggled to make any sort of dent. This one had all the pedigree that should’ve helped it: a “Wet Hot American Summer” reunion between David Wain and Ken Marino, a goofy, easily commercial premise, and a stacked cast of funny people that even reunited Jon Hamm and John Slattery. Instead, it opened to under $1 million from a thousand screens and did little after the fact. Here’s hoping it finds the same underrated cult acclaim in streaming that some of Wain’s other films have done.

“I Want Your Sex” – Magnolia – $1.4M

It turns out opening as counterprogramming to “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” was not the best idea. Gregg Araki’s film played on the Gen-Z discourse about sex in films and cast starry names like Charli XCX to give it some commercial life, and thus far it’s been mostly limp. Coincidentally, “I Want Your Sex” will be one of the most financially successful films of Araki’s career, but it likely won’t spark the same conversation and controversy that has defined him.

“Her Private Hell” – Neon – $912K

Where have you gone, Nicolas Winding Refn? It wasn’t that long ago that the Danish auteur’s “Drive” became an art house sensation, earning him a place on the shortlist to direct a James Bond film. But Refn, to his credit, has preferred to remain true to the beat of his own idiosyncratic, ultraviolent drummer, directing films like “Only God Forgives” and “The Neon Demon” that divided critics and audiences. So credit to him for following his blood-drenched muse, but finding financing for his polarizing visions could be harder if his movies keep, you know, losing money.

Other contenders in this tier: “Normal” ($5M), “Motor City” ($2.7M), “The Death of Robin Hood” ($5.3M), and “The Rivals of Amziah King” ($1.8M).