For the second half of May 2026, an intriguing type of horror has owned the box office. While Michael held on strong, Focus Features’ Obsession, which was made for $750,000, somehow made over $100 million at the box office, with an increase of almost 40 percent in its second week in theaters. Two weeks later, A24 released Backrooms, a movie that dwells in the horror of liminal spaces; the film made $10.4 million on its opening day, besting the $10.3 million made by the first film based on the viral Five Night’s at Freddy’s franchise.
For those who haven’t been paying attention to the hype surrounding these films, they share a few things in common: they are the feature-length directorial debuts of their directors (Curry Barker for Obsession, Kane Parsons for Backrooms). The other, and possibly more important, part is that both cut their teeth on YouTube, exploring their creativity in the medium before diving headfirst into Hollywood horror. Having a readymade audience to support anything you do is a must; maybe the parasocial nature of the internet means that fans who’ve watched these creators long enough will just want to see their fav win.
YouTube creators making horror for Hollywood isn’t new; making this kind of bank at the box office for these first-time directors is a newer trend. That said, it’s been about a decade since Hollywood has tapped YouTube for the next great director. With the hype surrounding Obsession and Backrooms, bone up on your YouTube-turnt-Hollywood director knowledge with a timeline of YouTube creators who transitioned into Hollywood directors through horror.
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