Hollywood Needs to Learn from the Current Box Office Cultural Moment

The 2026 summer movie box office so far has shown that Hollywood needs to reevaluate what they believe current moviegoers want. 

The summer movie season is usually the most vital box office period for the film industry every year. This is due to Hollywood releasing many blockbusters and tentpole films during this time, in addition to the season being responsible for about 40% of the total annual domestic box office. Because of this, it is natural to want all summer films to be financially successful. 

Some films have been but not all the ones that Hollywood expected. Two of the biggest success stories of the summer so far have been Obsession and Backrooms. Obsession focuses on a man named Bear, played by Michael Johnston, who makes an ill-fated wish for a girl named Nikki, played by Inde Navarrete, to fall in love with him. Backrooms focuses on the characters of Clark and Mary, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, as they explore a mysterious network of connected rooms located in a furniture store’s basement. 

Released on May 15 and directed by Curry Barker, Obsession made history by grossing $23.9 million domestically during its second weekend in comparison to its $17.2 million opening.  This is notable because films rarely make more money on their second weekend than their opening one.  Additionally, it marked the only time a widely released horror movie made more money during its sophomore outing than the first. 

Upward Trajectory

On top of that, it made $26.4 million in its third weekend as it continued the upward trajectory. This milestone made Obsession the first film outside of Christmas since E.T.: The Extraterrestrial to have bigger second and third weekends than the first. It has gone on to make approximately $403 million globally on a budget of $750,000. 

Backrooms released on May 29 and had an $81.4 million domestic opening. This stands as the biggest opening ever for A24, the film’s studio, and made 20-year-old director Kane Parsons the youngest director in history to have a film open No. 1 at the box office. The film has gone on to make approximately $349.8 million globally on a budget of $10 million. 

One of the things that makes the success of these films so special is that both are made by directors who debuted on YouTube. Barker and Parsons made short films on YouTube years prior to Obsession and Backrooms. Because of this, their young audiences that were built during this time came out in droves to support them. 

The Gen Z audience is another reason why the films have been so successful. In 2025, Gen Z represented nearly 40% of all moviegoing North American audiences and saw an average of seven films last year.  This makes Gen Z, people between the ages of 18 and 29, the most active moviegoing demographic. 

Since Gen Z represented over half of the audiences for Obsession and Backrooms, it is easy to see why they have broken records. Additionally, Barker and Parsons are Gen Zers, so that represents a rare relatability that filmmakers do not always have with audiences. This success shows that audiences are living in a huge cultural moment and showing Hollywood what younger moviegoers are interested in seeing. Because of this, it has spelled doom for some other summer films. 

Three notable examples are Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu, Masters of the Universe and Supergirl. All three films have underperformed at the box office and made less money than Obsession and Backrooms. This sounds even worse when considering the fact that all three films have bigger budgets than the two horror juggernauts. 

Nothing Special?

Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu has grossed approximately $331.6 million globally on a $165 million budget, while Masters of the Universe and Supergirl have approximately grossed $111.3 million and $100 million globally on budgets of over $170 million, respectively. Unlike Obsession and Backrooms, those films were hugely marketed and directed by veteran filmmakers. Even though the failure of Masters of the Universe can be attributed to modern audiences not caring about the He-Man franchise, modern audiences have shown interest in “Star Wars” and comic book films in the past 10 years. 

The problem seems to stem from those films not being seen as anything special, which can be gathered by their critical receptions paling in comparison to those of Obsession and Backrooms. The latter films represent fresh ideas and concepts, while the former are new installments in franchises that have been around for decades and seemingly peaked years ago. 

This is not to say that current audiences have no interest in old franchises, considering that Toy Story 5 has grossed approximately $764 million globally and Spider-Man: Brand New Day is looking to do big business as well. It is just that Hollywood cannot keep pumping out the same big budget franchise films every year without even attempting to implement fresh concepts that work.