YouTubers Are Taking Over the Box Office, Breaking Records with Backrooms and Obsession
Two horror films led the domestic box office this weekend, turning an expected blockbuster frame into a surprise showcase for low-budget genre hits made by YouTube creators. Kane Parsons’ Backrooms opened far above expectations with $81.5 million, while Curry Barker’s Obsession continued an unusual box office run by posting another weekend increase and pushing its North American total past $100 million.
Backrooms debuted at No. 1 with $81,456,295 from 3,442 theaters, placing it ahead of major franchise competition and far beyond industry forecasts. The film, a found-footage horror project from A24, also delivered record-breaking results. It marked A24’s biggest opening weekend ever, passed Civil War’s $25.5 million debut, and became the largest opening in history for an original horror film. It also set a new benchmark for a first-time filmmaker on a non-franchise movie and made Parsons, at 20, the youngest director ever to launch a No. 1 film at the box office. Internationally, Backrooms added $36.5 million, bringing its global three-day total to $118 million.
The film’s debut was especially notable because it outperformed The Mandalorian and Grogu, which had opened the previous weekend to $82 million in more theaters and with a far larger budget. Backrooms reportedly cost about $10 million to make, compared with $165 million for the Star Wars film. The Mandalorian and Grogu also fell sharply in its second weekend, dropping 69%.
Obsession, meanwhile, continued to show rare staying power. The horror film earned $26.4 million in its third weekend, up from $24 million the week before and $17.2 million in its debut. That brought its domestic total to $104.8 million. According to Deadline, it is the first movie since E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in 1982 to increase ticket sales in both its second and third weekends. The film’s momentum suggests unusually strong audience word of mouth, especially for a horror title.
The weekend also showed that the horror surge did not leave room for many other new releases. Nate Bargatze’s The Breadwinner opened well below expectations at $7.5 million after weak reviews, despite stronger audience scores. Pressure performed modestly with $5.75 million, while The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Sheep Detectives, Passenger, and Mortal Kombat II rounded out the top 10. Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic, held strong in fourth place and continued its march toward a major global milestone.
Looking ahead, Scary Movie 6 is projected to lead next weekend’s box office, with Masters of the Universe and The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act also entering the mix. The latest results underline how much the summer movie season can still be reshaped by unexpected hits, especially when audiences respond strongly to original horror.
