The Era of YouTubers in Hollywood: Horrors "The Backrooms" and "Obsession" Claim Multiple Records

The psychological horror "The Backrooms" from A24 is set to be the main triumph of the current weekend. The debut feature film by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, based on the creepypasta Backrooms and his own web series, earned an impressive $38 million at the domestic box office on Friday, including preview screenings. The main audience consisted of young people: about 86% of viewers were under 35 years old.

Given this dynamic, experts predict the film's opening weekend gross will be around $80-90 million. This will be an absolute record in A24's history, despite the production costing only $10 million.

Another low-budget horror film, "Obsession" by another popular YouTuber Curry Barker, is showing equally impressive results. The film, shot for only $750 thousand, has been in theaters for three weeks and is literally making history: the project demonstrates unprecedented endurance, increasing its box office with each weekend.

Experts expect that this weekend's box office will grow by another 19% and amount to about $28.5 million. After this, "Obsession" will become the first film in the last 40 years whose box office grew in both its second and third weekends, excluding specific Christmas releases. This will also bring its domestic box office to $106 million and make it the highest-grossing release in Focus Features' history.

The rapid rise of Parsons and Barker has completely overshadowed the positions of recognized Hollywood giants. Disney's blockbuster "The Mandalorian and Grogu," in its second week of screenings, shows a box office drop of over 70% and, according to preliminary estimates, will only rank third by the end of the weekend.

The premiere of "The Backrooms" in Russian cinemas will take place on June 4, while "Obsession" is already available in theaters.