THE WEEKEND HOLLYWOOD STOPPED PRETENDING NOT TO SEE YOUTUBE

InnovationCreator EconomyTHE WEEKEND HOLLYWOOD STOPPED PRETENDING NOT TO SEE YOUTUBEByTyler Chou,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Tyler Chou is the Creators' Attorney for mega creators & startups. Follow AuthorMay 31, 2026, 05:00pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. HOLLYWOOD, CA : The Hollywood Sign is seen with smoke. (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)GC ImagesThis weekend, two films directed by twenty-something filmmakers who built their audiences on YouTube did something Hollywood has been refusing to admit was coming. They beat Star Wars.Backrooms, A24's atmospheric horror film directed by twenty-year-old Kane Parsons, opened to $81.4 million domestically and $118 million worldwide. It is the biggest opening in A24's history, surpassing the previous $25.5 million record set by Alex Garland's Civil War by more than triple. It is also the biggest opening ever for an original film from a debut director, and Parsons is now the youngest filmmaker ever to top the box office charts.He is twenty years old. He built the property as a YouTube creepypasta web series before he could legally rent a car. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve star.Obsession, the indie horror from twenty-six-year-old writer-director Curry Barker, did something even rarer. In its third weekend, the film rose another 10 percent to $26.4 million, making it the first film outside of the holiday season since E.T. The Extraterrestrial in 1982 to have second and third weekends both bigger than its first. The domestic total now stands at $104.7 million. The global total is $148 million. It is the highest-grossing film in Focus Features history.The production budget was $750,000. The return on production cost is approximately 200 times.Together, Backrooms and Obsession finished one-two at the weekend box office. Disney’s The Mandalorian an...