Creator-led horror films score box office breakthrough

Films from YouTube creators Kane Parsons and Curry Barker claimed the top two spots at the US box office over the weekend, in what could prove to be a significant moment for creator-led entertainment.

Backrooms, directed by 20-year-old Parsons and based on his popular YouTube horror series, opened to $118m globally, becoming A24’s biggest opening weekend to date. Obsession, Barker’s latest supernatural horror film, continued its strong theatrical run in second place, taking its worldwide total to $148m.

Both films outperformed Disney’s The Mandalorian and Grogu over the weekend despite being made on a fraction of the budget.

Backrooms began life as a series of short horror videos on YouTube inspired by the internet phenomenon of the same name, which imagines an endless maze-like dimension of yellow-wallpapered rooms inhabited by unseen forces. Parsons first uploaded the films in 2022, attracting millions of views before the project was picked up for a feature adaptation. The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as a furniture store owner who discovers a portal to the dimension in his basement, and Renate Reinsve as the therapist who follows him in.

Obsession followed a different route. Barker built an audience through comedy sketches before pivoting to horror with Milk & Serial, an $800 found-footage feature he released for free on YouTube in 2024. Obsession centres on a hopeless romantic who breaks a mysterious wish-granting willow tree to win his crush’s heart, only to discover the wish comes with a sinister price. The project helped establish Barker as one of a growing number of creators using social platforms as a springboard into traditional entertainment.

Speaking at the Produced By conference last weekend, horror producer Jason Blum said the films represented a new kind of cinema.

“They’re made by non-traditional directors, directors who really honed their skills as creators online,” he said.

YouTube creators, he added, approach test screenings differently from their Hollywood counterparts — “sitting at the front row, recording the audience with the camera” — obsessed with real-time reaction in a way he believes helps explain why the films are connecting with younger audiences.

Beyond social platforms

The success of Backrooms and Obsession comes as entertainment companies continue to invest in creator-led programming, reflecting a broader shift in how the industry views talent emerging from online platforms.

Netflix has expanded its creator slate over the past year through projects involving creators including Alix Earle, Alan Chikin Chow, Jordan Matter, Mark Rober and Ms Rachel. Last month, Jay Shetty announced a reported $100m partnership that will bring video episodes of his podcast On Purpose to Netflix alongside Spotify.

The projects span different formats, including podcasts, television, streaming content and film, but all originated with creators who had already built substantial audiences online.

Film is also becoming an increasingly important part of that picture. Earlier this year, creator Mark Fischbach, better known as Markiplier, generated a surprise box office success with Iron Lung, a self-financed and self-distributed adaptation of the horror video game of the same name, which went on to gross $52m worldwide against a $3m budget.

While creator-led films remain a small part of the wider entertainment industry, the success of Backrooms and Obsession highlights a growing pathway from social platforms to traditional entertainment. For creators, platforms such as YouTube are increasingly serving not just as distribution channels, but as places to develop, test and build audiences around intellectual property before it reaches cinemas.