YouTubers Are Setting Box Office Records. It Could Change the Future of Moviemaking
Kane Parsons’ debut drew $81.5 million domestically, while Obsession added $26.4 million and beat major franchise releases, studio estimates showed.
- On Sunday, A24's Backrooms, directed by 20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons, topped the North American box office with $81.5 million, setting a record for the independent distributor and making Parsons the youngest filmmaker in Hollywood history to achieve a No. 1 opening.
- This success reflects a broader shift as studios increasingly recruit YouTube creators to direct low-budget films, mobilizing Gen Z audiences who rarely visit theaters; nearly 85% of viewers were under age 35, according to PostTrak data.
- Focus Features' Obsession secured second place with $26.4 million in its third weekend, up 10% from the previous week, while Disney's The Mandalorian and Grogu fell to third place with $25 million.
- Warner Bros. Motion Pictures co-chair Michael De Luca said filmmakers like Parsons "are in a dialogue with their audience from the word go," noting they receive "a billion test screenings" via subscribers before theatrical release.
- Experts predict Hollywood studios will increasingly copy this moviemaking model by scouring online video sites for emerging auteurs, prioritizing original concepts over the predictable franchises that previously dominated the box office.
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‘Backrooms’ Shatters Box Office Records With USD 81M Debut, ‘Obsession’ Soars, ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Drops 70% | 🎥 LatestLY
In a historic shift at the global box office, 'Backrooms' secured the top spot worldwide and 'Obsession' defied traditional theatrical depreciation with rare week-over-weekend gains, Disney’s big-budget sci-fi tentpole The Mandalorian and Grogu' suffered a steep decline in numbers. 🎥 ‘Backrooms’ Shatters Box Office Records With USD 81M Debut, ‘Obsession’ Soars, ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Drops 70%.
The Billings Gazette
fredericksburg.com'Backrooms' shocks with record opening
YouTubers in their 20s are shaking things up in Hollywood.
Backrooms’ tops the box office as Star Wars stumbles in its second weekend
Young audiences turned out in droves to movie theaters around the country this weekend.It wasn't for the big budget "Star Wars" movie, "The Mandalorian and Grogu, " which fell sharply in its second weekend, however, but for a small budget horror from a 20-year-old first-time filmmaker that began on the internet."Backrooms," released by A24 in 3,442 locations in the U.S. and Canada, made an astonishing $81.5 million in its first three days in the…
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