Box Office Projections Put YouTube Star Kane Parsons and Backrooms on the Brink of Hollywood History

The YouTube- to-theaters pipeline is not a one-off anymore. It is a real thing, and this weekend might be the loudest proof yet.

A24 has a monster on deck with Kane Parsons' Backrooms

Backrooms, the feature debut from 20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons, is tracking way above $35 million and has some projections creeping into the $40–$50 million range. If it even lands near the top of that spread, you are looking at a new high-water mark for an A24 horror opening — and potentially a new studio opening record overall, beating the benchmark set by Civil War.

"Backrooms is eyeing a $40M–$50M domestic opening weekend. At 20, Kane Parsons is set to become the youngest filmmaker ever to top the box office. "

The budget reportedly sits around $8 million, which is wild when you line it up against those opening numbers. If the tracking holds, Backrooms could turn into one of the most profitable horror launches in recent memory. It is also another data point that says creator-driven films can compete — and win — on studio turf without needing a nine-figure spend.

How we got here: creators stopped asking for permission

Markiplier kicked the door open with Iron Lung — a modest, tightly scaled horror movie that still put up legit box-office numbers thanks to his built-in fanbase. Studios have clearly taken notes. The conversation around who gets to direct has loosened up, and creators like RackaRacka, Chris Stuckmann, and Markiplier are crossing over with actual backing. Subscriber counts are now leverage, not trivia.

• Backrooms (A24): tracking above $35M, with some forecasts at $40–$50M; reported $8M budget; could top A24's own opening record set by Civil War; if it opens at No. 1, Parsons would be the youngest filmmaker to lead the box office at 20.
• Obsession: second weekend cleared $23M, beating its opening frame — the first time on record a wide-release horror movie has done that; made for about $750,000 and has already passed $80M worldwide; its legs put it in the same conversation as ultra-low-budget smashes like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity.

Meanwhile, Obsession is rewriting the 'legs' playbook

Curry Barker's Obsession is having the kind of hold studios dream about. Its second weekend out-earned its first — a first for a wide-release horror title, period — pulling in more than $23 million in the sophomore frame. On a reported $750,000 budget and already over $80 million globally, the return is, frankly, ridiculous (in the good way).

Part of why it is catching on: the movie is a tight pressure-cooker about fixation, desire, and fallout. Performances from a rising cast sell the psychology, so it plays as both a thriller and a character piece. Also worth noting: viewers are pushing back on the lazy 'crazy ex' read. A lot of the chatter frames it as a story about a selfish man exerting control over a woman who never wanted him, grinding her down and making everything worse. That word-of-mouth is clearly helping.

The bigger picture

Pair Backrooms' sky-high tracking with Obsession's sticky legs and you get a clear trend: creator-led horror is not just opening well — it is staying well. The cost-to-upside math is unbeatable, and the audience these filmmakers cultivated online is actually showing up in theaters. That is not an accident. It is a strategy.

Bottom line: if Backrooms hits the numbers people are whispering about, the conversation shifts from "can YouTubers make movies? " to "how fast can studios scale this?" I have a guess.