The trend of moving from the YouTube platform to the big screen reached its peak this weekend. The top spot in the box office rankings was taken by the film “Backrooms,” directed by Kane Parsons. Based on a 4chan thread and popularized on YouTube, this horror project tells the story of a mysterious office space that defies physics. The film is expected to gross $81 million in the US alone during its opening weekend. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports .
This figure is an absolute record for the independent studio A24. The previous record belonged to the film “Civil War,” which grossed $25.7 million in its debut week. The second place in the ranking was taken by “Obsession,” a film directed by another YouTube creator, Curry Barker. Although its weekly revenue is $26.4 million, the film's growth dynamics are surprising experts.
“Obsession” became the first film since 1982 to increase its revenue in its second and third weeks rather than decreasing it. Usually, films lose 50-70 percent of their revenue in the second week, but Barker's work continues to grow due to positive word-of-mouth among viewers. Curry Barker was previously known on YouTube for projects like “Milk & Serial” and is currently working on a remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
These successes follow the triumphant run of the film “Iron Lung,” presented earlier this year by Mark Fischbach, known by the pseudonym Markiplier. This video game adaptation managed to gross $41 million. Experts believe that the success of young creators like Parsons and Barker is linked to the loyal audience they have built on YouTube over the years.
Notably, these “vlogger” films have even outperformed major franchises. For example, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” part of the Star Wars universe, which returned to screens after a seven-year hiatus, grossed only $24 million this week, recording a lower result in the rankings.
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