The film industry is still processing the dramatic success of A24’s BACKROOMS, which earned $81.4M in its opening weekend, roughly equivalent to the big-budget blockbuster STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU. BACKROOMS’ success was a shock and pleasant surprise to the entire entertainment industry, showing the role that YouTube is assuming as a proving ground for new filmmakers. Feature films like BACKROOMS, OBSESSION, and IRON LUNG all came from directors who developed their craft on YouTube and draw in Gen Z audiences to the movies. This is a highly encouraging development for exhibitors.
The first film to demonstrate the power of YouTube’s fandom was IRON LUNG, released in early February. The film, was directed and self-financed by Mark Fischbach, better known by his name on YouTube as Markiplier. It is an adaptation of a popular horror video game of the same name. In the lead up to the film’s release, Markiplier encouraged his fans to contact their local theatre to ask them to screen it. The fans stepped up to the challenge, and the movie was booked at over 3,000 theatres across the U.S. and Canada, including theatres within every major chain. IRON LUNG grossed $17.8M in its first three days and over $50M worldwide, despite it having cost only $3M to produce.
This was followed by the recent successes of OBSESSION and BACKROOMS. Both movies were directed by Gen Z YouTubers, 26-year-old Curry Barker for OBSESSION and 20-year-old Kane Parsons for BACKROOMS. Both horror films were also made on-the-cheap, with OBSESSION costing a mere $1M and BACKROOMS coming in at $10M. A24 identified Parsons in 2022 when a 27-year old assistant producer came across the BACKROOMS series on Parsons’ YouTube Channel. Will the YouTube magic continue, with Hollywood finding the next crop of filmmaker from these non-traditional on-line sources? Tik Tok or Instagram Shorts anyone?
