The weekend box office belonged to two movies made by YouTube creators. Backrooms opened at No. 1 and Obsession took No. 2, giving filmmaker Curry Barker another breakout moment as his horror movie kept drawing audiences instead of fading after release.
That is what makes Barker searchable today: he is 26, he already put out the hourlong found-footage horror film Milk & Serial on YouTube in 2024, and now Obsession has become one of the rare wide releases to keep building. The film made $8 million on Friday and was estimated to gross $28.5 million over the weekend, with a third weekend expected to rise another 19 percent.
Backrooms, directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, made $38 million on Friday and was expected to bring in $80 million to $90 million domestically over the weekend. For A24, the film was a major step beyond its previous opening record, Civil War, which started with $25.7 million. Together, the two titles turned a routine box office weekend into a showcase for a pipeline that used to look like a long shot: YouTube to theaters, then theaters to real numbers.
Mark DelVecchio, the general manager at Rutgers Cinema, said lots of YouTubers have tried to make the leap to mainstream movies and come up short, but Parsons, Barker and Mark Fischbach have longevity. He said that by the time some creators reach film, they have been making videos for a very long time, which helps build a loyal audience that follows them. That audience is visible in the numbers. Obsession made more money in its second weekend than its first, and it was expected to grow again in its third, a pattern that is highly unusual for wide-release films, which usually fall 50 percent to 70 percent after opening. The Hollywood Reporter said it was the first film since 1982 to grow on both its second and third weekends.
The bigger question now is whether Barker can keep that audience when the novelty wears off. He has already shot his next film and is set to direct a new remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which will test whether Obsession was a lucky turn or the start of a lasting career.
