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Two young content creators are shaking up the box office with unexpected blockbuster success.
At just 20 years old, Kane Parsons has become the youngest director to top the box office charts with his horror film “Backrooms,” which has grossed an impressive $81 million. The movie, adapted from Parsons’ 2022 web series inspired by a 2019 4chan image, explores a mysterious, seemingly endless labyrinth of vacant indoor spaces discovered by a group of scientists.
Featuring Oscar-nominated actors Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, the film was made on a modest $10 million budget. Early projections anticipated a $20 million opening weekend, but interest surged dramatically as the release neared, ultimately shattering expectations.
According to PostTrak data cited by Variety, “Backrooms” has resonated strongly with younger audiences-nearly 85% of viewers are under 35, with over half being 25 or younger-helping it become the highest-grossing film for indie studio A24. Rotten Tomatoes box office columnist Erick Childress called the achievement “extraordinary,” noting its remarkable ability to draw crowds beyond initial forecasts.
Parsons is not alone in defying box office norms. Curry Barker, a 26-year-old writer and director known for the comedy duo “That’s a Bad Idea,” made waves with his horror film “Obsession,” which opened to $17 million-well above its projected sub-$10 million debut.
The low-budget film, costing less than $1 million to produce, follows a young man whose wish for a friend to fall in love with him takes a dark turn. Remarkably, “Obsession” grew its earnings in subsequent weekends, pulling in roughly $24 million over Memorial Day and $26 million in its third weekend.
This rare pattern of increasing box office returns has not been seen since the 1980s, according to Childress, who compared it to classics like “E.T.” and “Superman II.”
Both “Backrooms” and “Obsession” were produced by Jason Blum’s BlumHouse Productions, a company known for its successful horror ventures. Together, these films outperformed “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which suffered a 69% drop after an already lukewarm debut and took third place at the box office. With a $165 million budget and global earnings of $250 million, the latest Star Wars installment is on track to become the franchise’s lowest-performing film in theaters-a development that could prompt Disney to reconsider its strategy moving forward.
As “Backrooms” and “Obsession” continue to dominate, they stand out as two of the most profitable films of the year, showcasing the growing influence of young digital creators in Hollywood’s traditional landscape.