Backrooms pulled in $38M on Friday, a figure that dwarfs most indie releases.
YouTubers Take the Lead
Backrooms, a feature‑length expansion of Kane Parsons’ YouTube series, opened to $38M on Friday and is projected to bring in $80M to $90M over the weekend. For A24, that eclipses the previous record held by Civil War, which made $25.7M in its opening weekend. Obsession, directed by Curry Barker, made $8M on Friday and is estimated to haul $28.5M this weekend. Remarkably, its second weekend surpassed the first, and the third weekend is set to grow another 19%. Iron Lung, a video‑game adaptation directed by Mark Fischbach (Markiplier), grossed nearly $41M domestically earlier this year.
Unprecedented Weekend Growth
Most wide‑release films fall 50‑70% in their second weekend. Obsession is the first film since 1982 to grow on both its second and third weekends. Last year’s Sinners fell less than 5% and was deemed a word‑of‑mouth success; Obsession’s trajectory is unheard of outside of Christmas releases.
The YouTube‑to‑Hollywood Pipeline
Rutgers Cinema general manager Mark DelVecchio notes that Parsons (20) and Barker (26) have “longevity” – long‑running channels that cultivate loyal audiences. DelVecchio says, “At this point, some of them have been making videos for a very long time, and that’s how you develop a loyal audience that will follow you.” Barker has already shot his next film and is set to direct a remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, while Parsons is already working on a new project.
If Backrooms and Obsession prove the rule, the next wave of YouTube creators may find the big screen as readily accessible as the comment section.
Source: This weekend's two biggest movies were both directed by YouTubers
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