Change is afoot in Hollywood thanks to a revolution being spearheaded by a cadre of up-and-coming filmmakers who cut their teeth in the most ruthless of online arenas: YouTube.
The box office numbers from this past weekend confirm it, with Backrooms, a sci-fi horror movie directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons raking in an astonishing $81 million in the U.S. alone over its opening weekend. Parsons made his name on YouTube as Kane Pixels, where his animated shorts garnered millions of views.
Then there’s Curry Barker, another YouTuber, whose theatrical debut, Obsession, has already made over $151 million off the back of a budget of around $1 million. Both are breaking out of the online world and into movie theaters worldwide—and they are far from outliers.
A glut of YouTubers turned filmmakers have set their sights on Hollywood. Here are the seven most exciting ranked.
7. Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal
Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal are the comedy duo behind Good Mythical Morning. Friends since childhood in North Carolina, they built their careers online through sketches, music, and viral videos before launching their daily talk show in 2012.
The show’s blend of humor, bizarre food challenges, and quirky experiments has earned a devoted fanbase. They have also found success with podcasts like Ear Biscuits and books including The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek.
After struggling to land film and TV ideas with traditional studios, they founded Mythical Entertainment, now producing multiple digital series. Their original show Wonderhole has been well received and renewed, and while no film is confirmed, their trajectory suggests one could be next.
6. MrBeast
MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) is one of YouTube’s most successful creators, known for high-budget viral videos featuring elaborate challenges, large giveaways, and philanthropy-driven stunts. His channel has attracted hundreds of millions of subscribers, while ventures like MrBeast Burger and Feastables have expanded his brand beyond digital media. He has also moved into long-form entertainment with projects such as Beast Games, a large-scale competition series.
Given his focus on cinematic production, storytelling, and increasingly sophisticated budgets, a transition into filmmaking seems likely. MrBeast has repeatedly expressed ambitions to create larger narrative projects, and his ability to self-finance and draw massive audiences makes him uniquely positioned to develop and release a feature film.
5. Markiplier
Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) built his YouTube following through energetic gaming videos, particularly horror playthroughs, blending humor, jump-scare reactions, and strong audience engagement. His personality-driven style helped him amass tens of millions of subscribers and expand into ambitious interactive projects like A Heist with Markiplier and In Space with Markiplier.
He made the leap into filmmaking with Iron Lung (2026), which he wrote, directed, starred in, and financed. Based on an indie horror game, the film was well received by fans and grossed over $50 million on a modest budget, demonstrating his ability to translate online storytelling into cinema. Following its success, Markiplier has said he has multiple film ideas and plans to pursue further projects after a short break.
4. Kyle Edward Ball
In 2017, Canadian filmmaker Kyle Edward Ball launched the YouTube channel Bitesized Nightmare, inviting viewers to share their dreams and nightmares, which he recreated using lo-fi visuals and minimalist effects. This project became a testing ground for his distinctive style and inspired his breakout feature, Skinamarink, about two children who wake to find their father missing and their home unsettlingly altered.
Made for just $15,000, the film became a viral hit, earning $2.1 million at the box office. Ball is now working on a follow-up, The Land of Nod, backed by A24, marking a significant step up in scale from Skinamarink and signaling his move into bigger-budget filmmaking.
3. Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou
Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou are Australian filmmakers and YouTubers best known for their RackaRacka channel, where videos like the Ronald McDonald series and Harry Potter vs Star Wars combined violent absurdity with impressive practical effects. Their zombie and demon shorts also drew millions of views, showcasing the chaotic energy that defined their early success.
They transitioned into film with Talk to Me (2023), a low-budget horror that became a critical and commercial hit, establishing them as major new voices in the genre. They followed it with Bring Her Back, further cementing their move into filmmaking. Next, the brothers are expanding their careers with a sequel, Talk 2 Me, and other horror projects in development.
2. Curry Barker
Barker first turned to YouTube at 18 while studying at the New York Film Academy, where he met collaborator Cooper Tomlinson. Together, they created sketch comedy shorts under the banner That’s a Bad Idea, building an early online audience.
In 2023, he gained wider recognition with the horror short The Chair, which drew more than 5.5 million views. Its success attracted producer James Harris, who approached Barker about a feature adaptation, prompting him instead to pitch Obsession. Now, Barker is developing a follow-up with Tomlinson titled Anything But Ghosts, about two fake paranormal investigators forced to confront real ghosts while grappling with their own fraudulent business.
1. Kane Parsons
Kane Parsons, known online as Kane Pixels, is a filmmaker who began on YouTube creating visual effects-driven shorts, initially posting gaming content before shifting to horror. He found major success with his Backrooms series, especially The Backrooms (Found Footage), which drew more than 80 million views, while the wider series amassed hundreds of millions.
The concept was inspired by a viral 2019 creepypasta about eerie “liminal spaces,” which Parsons adapted into found-footage horror. He later expanded it into a feature film, Backrooms (2026), which broke box office records and marked him out as a major new talent.
Looking ahead, Parsons is planning sequels and further projects to expand the Backrooms universe.
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