“Backrooms”, a film based on the popular YouTube series of the same name created by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, debuted with US$81.4 million (R$409 million) at the box office in the US and Canada this weekend, setting a record for independent distributor A24.
The performance of the science fiction and horror film, which cost US$10 million — about the discovery of infinite, interdimensional and labyrinthine spaces — is more or less in line with the premiere of the latest Star Wars feature, “The Mandalorian and Grogu”, on the Memorial Day holiday.
This is also the third consecutive box office success this year directed by filmmakers who started on Alphabet’s YouTube streaming platform. The phenomenon is crowning new “kings” of directing in Hollywood, yielding small fortunes for producers and rewriting the cinema economy manual.
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In early May, Focus Features, a specialized film label from Comcast’s Universal studio, released “Obsession”, by 26-year-old YouTuber Curry Barker. The film, which cost less than $1 million to produce, became Focus’s highest-grossing title in North America with $104.7 million in sales. More tickets have been purchased for “Obsession” from one weekend to the next — a rare feat, achieved by only a few cultural phenomena, such as “Titanic” in 1997.
In January, Mark Fischbach, known to YouTube fans as Markiplier, planned to release his $3 million film “Iron Lung” in 60 independent theaters. Fischbach led a grassroots campaign encouraging his followers to call local theaters and request screenings of “Iron Lung.” The film was eventually picked up by major chains, including AMC, Regal and Cinemark, and grossed $41.4 million in the US and Canada.
Parsons published the first of 24 episodes of “Backrooms” on YouTube in 2022. The “creepypasta” series — a meme culture term that refers to a horror story or concept that becomes internet legend — went viral, accumulating around 200 million views on episodes ranging from 30 seconds to 45 minutes. In 2023, A24 announced that it would develop a “Backrooms” film with the then young 17-year-old director.
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Some of the industry’s most successful figures, including James Wan, founder of horror label Atomic Monster, “Deadpool & Wolverine” director Shawn Levy, and Peter Chernin, former studio head at 20th Century Fox, helped produce the film.
“The key to Hollywood has always been finding new talent early,” Chernin said in an interview with the podcast The Town on Friday.
“The next generation is making short videos on YouTube and TikTok.”
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