The two biggest movies this weekend were directed by YouTubers

The horror pipeline from YouTube to prestige looks pretty strong this weekend.

No. 1 at the box office is “Backrooms,” a feature film expansion of Kane Parsons’ YouTube video series featuring bizarre found footage of a mysterious office space (taken from a 4chan thread) that defies physics.

Parsons’ “Backrooms” grossed $38 million on Friday and is expected to gross $80 million to $90 million at the domestic box office this weekend alone. For independent studio A24, this is its biggest opening ever – the previous record was held by “Civil War,” which grossed $25.7 in its first weekend of release.

The second film, “Obsession,” offers something that is arguably even more impressive. True, it made just $8 million on Friday, with an estimated $28.5 million in weekend revenue — but the movie (about a romantic wish gone nightmarishly wrong) actually made more money in its second weekend than its first, and now its third weekend is set to grow another 19 percent.

For context, most wide release films typically drop between 50 to 70 percent in their second weekend; Last year’s “Sinners” was considered an exceptional success in terms of word of mouth because it dropped less than 5 percent. Outside of Christmas releases (which have greater staying power, thanks to the holidays), weekend-to-weekend growth is not unheard of — according to The Hollywood Reporter, “Obsession” is the first film since 1982 to grow in its second and third weekends.

Like “Backrooms,” “Obsession” is a horror film from the director who first made his name on YouTube — Cary Parker, who released the hour-long found footage horror “Milk & Serial” on YouTube in 2024. Parker has already filmed his next film and is set to direct a remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

The two releases come on the heels of the surprise success of Iron Lung, a video game released earlier this year. Directed by Mark Fischbach — known by his YouTube handle Markiplier — “Iron Lung” has grossed nearly $41 million domestically.

In a New York Times article about “the recent boom from YouTube to filmmakers,” Mark Delvecchio, managing director of Rutgers Cinema, noted that “a lot of YouTubers have tried to make the leap to mainstream films and make a short cut.” What’s so special about Parsons, Parker and Fishbach? Despite their youth (Parsons is 20, Parker is 26), they all have “longevity,” Delvecchio said.

“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,” he added.

By the way, although I haven’t watched “Back Rooms” yet (expect tomorrow), I am He owns I saw “Obsession”. So I can confirm that it doesn’t disappoint at all – I watched most of the second half with my fingers over my eyes, and probably screamed a few times.