THE SCRIPT
Reunion Newsletter [5.30.26]
Backrooms is a mega victory of everyone. It did $10mm+ last night, and is set for $70mm-ish weekend. A24’s previous opening night high was Civil War at $2.9mm, and its highest ever total domestic BO is $93mm. This is a smash.
Obsession rose again in its third week, embarrassing the fake-Star Wars thing. First time a movie has opened with second and third weekend increases since…E.T. in 1982. We’re gonna have these two at top of box office. Insane.
[UPDATE: Both are WAYYYYY bigger!!!] “‘Backrooms’ Mushrooms To $85M-$88M A24 Record Opening, Outstrips ‘Mandalorian & Grogu’ Debut; ‘Obsession’ $106M+ Best Ever For Focus Features – Update”
I dove into it yesterday, read here:
YouTube Creators (finally) Done Right
Editors note: Weekly newsletter drops tomorrow; today diving into the current creative moment at the movies with a new essay from Sean.
This issue is packed, and kinda out of order at times, because we’re sending late, after moving yesterday’s essay up, and loading in a lot more this morning after Backrooms reactions came out. A bunch more on Backrooms and Obsession below also. But read the essay first.
So much going on we nearly forgot to mention Spider-Noir and this moment that is the excellent NYT Nic Cage interview.
NBA script writers…I mean…come on…they’ve outdone themselves. Incredible stuff.
Saturday will be a game 7 for the ages. This guy made a joke about how everyone hates OKC so much it’s united the country for NYC like 9/11…oh no sorry that’s foul…ok two shots for SGA. I LOL’d. I thought Spurs were gassed after G5, but last night was resounding. I love it all either way. As a basketball fan, this is a layered treat. It’s not just amazing basketball, but it’s deeper than that. We’re talking the guy who called out the entire sport for being ‘unethical’, vs the flopping poster child of unethical ball, who happened to win MVP in front of Wemby during the series. Wemby was not happy about that. People are saying OKC injuries reveal SGA’s lack of true stardom. It’s big entertainment, and it’s rich and textured thoughtful competition for the audience. Incredible stuff. Also, as a Knicks fan, let these guys take each other to their limits and meet a rested squad in the finals. Getcha popcorn ready as TO would say.
As far as Knicks, it’s Saturday, it feels like they advanced to the NBA finals months ago. I feel as silly writing about this now as I do being tempted to click on the umpteenth ‘how the Knicks got here’ article being serviced via my algorithm. That’s not to say I wasn’t euphoric. Of course I was. I’ve waited my whole life for this. Dad and Grandpa showed me Bernard King. I will never stop reminding people I’m the kid with the reverse angle on Starks the Dunk:
Three notes where I stray from a lot of the chatter. Don’t get me wrong, this is wonderful and uniting. I already wrote all the positive stuff. Just qualifying it now.
This does not matter unless we win it all. I grew up in a time when participation trophies were invented. We hated them. The team that lost in the finals was the first loser. It doesn’t mean this isn’t progress, doesn’t mean we didn’t do a good job. It does mean we came short of the goal. You don’t lose in the championship and go home feeling good. Each of the last four years were a true progression, building blocks toward this ultimate goal. This is the year we need to do it. Mainly because we’ve matured and coalesced, we’re not going to get better nor do we need to. Also though, and not the point, but we steamrolled the East, we’re rested, and whomever comes out of the West will be injured and exhausted.
1999 does not count. That was a shortened lockout fluke year. 1999 counts even less than the 2020 bubble season should count. I mean, they both ‘count’, but they don’t count when we say ‘first time since…’ It’s 1994. That was a real team, real basketball. 1999 was like some random cool fun party that kinda fed off the Ewing years’ fumes before we slid into the dark ages. Anyone who claims 1999 was a serious run was not there or is kidding. Nobody took that seriously. That we took a game from the Spurs was a coup.
Recenter the performative celebrating. This week off in between is wonderful. Everyone got it out of their system. Now everyone has to reset and focus up. When the team stays locked in, but the fans act like we won it all, I hope people take notice. I hope people feel a little silly. I still think it’s wonderful as a unifying force for culture, that random people called it sports ball two weeks ago now yell LGK on the street. I love it. But these people are flighty. They have a 4 second attention span (not exaggerating, I think that’s the study). So by G1 Wednesday, all these people are going to have to consider for the second time if this is a cause they care about, if this is a way they want to spend their time, if this satisfies their dopamine need. That’s excellent. I think it does, and it will…but with this weak gap in between, maybe they’ve now grown a little more informed. Maybe they’ve had dinner with a Knicks friend and gotten the stories of the 2000s + 2010s dark times. Maybe they grew a little more textured in their investment. So maybe these performative Sidetalk celebrations will take the next step to attempting to be something more substantial and nutritious for society and culture. I’m very excited. I love how it’s all happened. Everything is aligned. Knicks are saying all the right things.
Also, as of yesterday, MITCH IS OK!!!
— Sean Glass @sdotglass
Tribeca 2026 WhatsApp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/FOJbaGSdDdf0opgy4Y9R3p
EVENTS
May 29–June 3: Dreyfus in Rehearsal [Tickets]
May 30: Glowing with Beth B in person [Roxy]
May 31: Bouldering Project presents BETA Play Reading [Register]
June 3-14: The Naked Woman [PM Theater] code: NAKEDREUNION for discount
We think every individual newsletter charging magazine subscription prices for one column is absurd, unfair, and unrealistic; end of world kinda stuff. So we make this free. But it’s a lot of work. If you have it, please donate. If you dig, share and all that stuff. Thx.
RESOURCES
50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2026 [Moviemaker]
THE NEWS
The important stuff on the important stuff. TL;DR + links if you want more.
| INDUSTRY |
Imax Is the Hottest Brand in Movies. Why Is It for Sale? [Variety] I think it’d be great if this organization could be separate from the studios, as well as from the theater chains, agnostic. But not sure what makes sense. I don’t think these are synergies but rather limitations. I’d rather it stay independent.
These Producers Built a Business Working With First-Time Directors. It Paid Off Big With Obsession [THR] Original ideas paying off for producer who develop.
And here’s the even bigger producer behind Backrooms. Major shout out to my college friend KORI ADELSON!!!!!
Low-budget horror flick Obsession shatters box office expectations as new Star Wars film comes up short [Fox News]
Neal Edelstein@NealEdelsteinAn executive at a major studio once told me, “horror does not work, it’s just a short term play when politics are bad in the country.” This was late 90’s. Proving what I learned very quickly, the people in positions of making decisions in hollywood mostly, have no fucking idea6:37 PM · May 29, 2026 · 14.6K Views18 Replies · 20 Reposts · 160 Likes
Global Box Office@GlobalBoxOfficeOBSESSION is tracking to become the first non-Christmas wide release since Steven Spielberg’s E.T. (1982) to post 2nd and 3rd weekend increases: 1st weekend — $17.2M 2nd weekend — $23.9M 3rd weekend — $25M-$30M (our projection) A historic box office run for Focus/Blumhouse.
5:49 PM · May 29, 2026 · 148K Views22 Replies · 439 Reposts · 6.25K LikesHow Orion Pictures Quietly Became Hollywood’s Most Interesting Studio Again [Boardroom] I still need to see Is God Is but very excited about this.
How Marlon Wayans Survived Hell, Hollywood and Harvey Weinstein [Variety] This is great, I hope he gets to reboot the others too. I’m very excited about new Scary Movie, it looks great.
Paul Schrader Breaks Down ChatGPT’s ‘Not Bad’ Paul Schrader Script Idea [IndieWire] Paul always in the news for the most.
Nick Bilton, New ‘60 Minutes’ Boss, Wants Newsmagazine to Stick on Digital, Mobile Screens [Variety]
Hulu Strikes First-Look Deal With Switchboard Magazine [Deadline] Very cool!! Congrats!!
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Unveils $45 Million Investment Plan in the Local Creative Industry by 2028 [Variety]
| FESTIVALS + AWARDS |
Full Cannes 2026 Winners List: Fjord Wins Palme D’Or [Deadline]
‘The White Lotus’ Recreates Dramatic Cannes Closing Night With Laura Dern, Steve Coogan, Ari Graynor, Chris Messina, Kumail Nanjiani and Max Greenfield [Variety]
A$AP Rocky to Be Honored With Inaugural Tribeca X Filmmaker of the Year Award; Full Programming Lineup Released [Variety] I don’t understand.
Tribeca Festival Sets First Premiere of Fully AI-Generated Film, Dreams of Violets [Variety] I guess. For academic purposes, sure. Eh.
Tribeca & TikTok Vets Launch America’s First Microdrama Festival [Deadline] Oh this too. Ok. Hm.
| ANNOUNCEMENTS |
FLC Presents “Elaine May,” June 26–July 2, with May in Person to Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Mikey and Nicky [FLC] Major.
HamptonsFilm Unveils 2026 SummerDocs Series Lineup, Featuring Films on Salman Rushdie, K2 and Jocelyne Wildenstein [Variety]
Viva Stella exhibition coming to Posteritati in honor of the late Tony Stella.
| MISC. |
Inside the Otherworldly Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles [Vogue]
One Battle After Another to Screen in 35mm for the First Time at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema [IndieWire]
The Crash Isn’t About Murder. It’s About TikTok. Mackenzie Shirilla is a true-crime character for a generation of posters. [Vulture] Check the longer piece I wrote too.
Flaco the Owl documentary to host free premiere in Central Park [Gothamist] I was there with Sammy Pressman. He landed during Ed’s memorial on 5th Ave. The photos and videos used, I think by Jeremy Workman, were taken just to my left it seems. Crazy. I love this.
Stephen Colbert Follows CBS Finale 24 Hours Later With Hilarious Hour of Michigan Public Access TV, Featuring Jack White, Jeff Daniels, Eminem, Steve Buscemi and Byron Allen [Variety]
Hammer Films to release 4K restoration of 1958 horror Dracula with addition of long-lost footage [Screen Daily]
SUBSTACK RECOMMENDATIONS
Re our episode with Wade Major from last month, linked again at the link.
Love this from Emily Best. These crowd investing things are stupid. Just make good stuff that’s worth something. Make things with a plan for the audience wanting it. Don’t try to shoehorn in audience demand.
Hilarious end times stuff with record labels.
These two articles by Russell Walter and Grant David Crawford, PhD are an incredible 1-2 punch. Reading them again. Called tf out.
WHAT TO WATCH
By the People, For the People: Real American Tales [MoMI]
Marilyn 100 [Film Forum]
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2026 [FLC]
14th Annual Israel Film Center Festival, opens June 9 [Israel Film Center]
| NEW RELEASES |
Backrooms [wide]
The Eerie Backstory Behind the Backrooms [Slate]
The Backrooms Bonanza Has Begun: Previews For Kane Parsons Movie At $10M+ [Deadline]
The Backrooms Production Design Is the Ultimate Game of Tetris [IndieWire]
A Look at the Backrooms Production Design [The World of Interiors]
Get your own Backrooms wallpaper, courtesy of [A24]
Pressure [wide]
The Currents [FLC]
Time and Water [Angelika]
Our Hero, Balthazar with filmmaker in person [Angelika]
Forastera [Film Forum]
Manas [Film Forum]
Renoir with filmmaker in person [IFC]
Forge [Quad]
Glowing with filmmaker in person [Roxy] 🍿
| ON FILM |
What’s Up Doc? in 35mm [Paris]
Do the Right Thing in 35mm [Paris]
Moonstruck in 35mm [Paris]
The Heiress in 35mm [Paris]
Tenet in 35mm [Roxy]
Peter Hutton - New York Portraits on 16mm [Roxy]
The Favor in 35mm with cast/crew for 20th anniversary [Roxy]
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior in 35mm [Metrograph]
Cujo in 35mm [Metrograph]
The Thing in 35mm [Metrograph]
A Fish Called Wanda in 35mm [Metrograph]
What Time is it There? in 35mm [Metrograph]
Matewan in 35mm [MoMI]
Shane in Archival 35mm IB Technicolor [MoMI]
| REP CINEMA |
All That Heaven Allows [Paris]
Coming to America [Paris]
Fiddler on the Roof [Paris]
Pride & Prejudice [Paris]
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner [Paris]
The Age of Innocence [Paris]
Gentleman Prefer Blondes [Film Forum]
Some Like it Hot [Film Forum]
The Seven Year Itch [Film Forum]
Monkey Business [Film Forum]
River of No Return [Film Forum]
Mysterious Skin, New York premiere of 4K restoration [IFC]
The Handmaiden [Metrograph]
Forbidden Games [Metrograph]
Flashdance [Metrograph]
Showgirls [Metrograph]
Come and See [Metrograph]
The Grapes of Wrath [MoMI]
Killer of Sheep [MoMI]
| STREAMING |
Dead Man’s Wire [Netflix]
Fuze [VOD]
Kontinental ‘25 [VOD]
The Last Viking [VOD]
The Moment [HBO MAX]
Two Prosecutors [VOD]
Two Women [VOD]
| COMING SOON |
| BONUS FEATURES |
The real Backrooms full video.
Netflix show Creeped Out does the concept before Backrooms too. The Many Place episode.
Good rundown of how it all came to be and the larger phenomenon. It doesnt touch on the Netflix show that used the idea before all of this, nor the origin as far as I can tell, which is House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski.
There’s also more specifics you can go into around the internet origins, like who dropped the original image, who wrote the original text, etc. but this video gives a good framing for people going to a movie theater today.
This gives a good rundown of the application of the metaphor. Backrooms is people spiraling into their own parallel vision of reality. Specifically AI taking our ideas and feelings and attempting to copy them, but copy them poorly. And some people can get addicted to it, addicted to their own projections already and thereby easy marks to get addicted to backrooms / ai projections. They already don’t want to accept their actual reality, so they’re offered another and it gives them an even easier out because they’re not doing it, backrooms is doing it. And they bury themselves in it.
From the OSCARS!!!
Zach Cregger and Curry Barker in conversation [Interview]
Obsession: an overview of the used to make the movie.
Did you know that Criterion invented the commentary track?
I Love Boosters breakdown with Boots Riley and cinematographer Natasha Braier
Eva Victor for Loewe
Infinite Jest Fest celebrates the end to McNally Jackson’s book club. I think this is really cool. Challenging Intellectual stimulation, cross checked with the actual institutional knowledge, shared with real people over extended periods of time, requiring commitment, ebbs n flows, life, real community and shared knowledge. This is great.
Explore the films of Walter Hill.
Old story but can’t restate enough. Movies are the most important thing in the world.
Analytically we’re still in the ECF.
