This 20-Year-Old Started Making YouTube Videos in High School — His First Movie Made $118 Million Over the Weekend
Kane Parsons turned his viral Backrooms YouTube series into the No. 1 movie in America, beating a Star Wars spinoff on its opening weekend.
Kane Parsons spent his high school years making horror videos on YouTube. This weekend, the 20-year-old became the youngest filmmaker in U.S. history to top the box office.
“Backrooms”opened with $81.5 million domestically and $118 million globally, according to the New York Times. The horror movie cost $10 million to make and beat out “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which has a budget of $165 million. The concept began as a creepy 4chan photo in 2019 and became a YouTube series.
The No. 2 film this weekend, “Obsession” has a similar origin story. It’s the brainchild of 26-year-old film-school dropout Curry Barker, who built his audience on TikTok and YouTube before turning a $750,000 production into a $105 million hit.
These new kinds of box office wins signal a major disruption in Hollywood. Blockbusters typically come from comic books, bestsellers, or legacy IP — these movies come from creators who built audiences online before studios even knew their names.
Kane Parsons spent his high school years making horror videos on YouTube. This weekend, the 20-year-old became the youngest filmmaker in U.S. history to top the box office.
“Backrooms”opened with $81.5 million domestically and $118 million globally, according to the New York Times. The horror movie cost $10 million to make and beat out “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which has a budget of $165 million. The concept began as a creepy 4chan photo in 2019 and became a YouTube series.
The No. 2 film this weekend, “Obsession” has a similar origin story. It’s the brainchild of 26-year-old film-school dropout Curry Barker, who built his audience on TikTok and YouTube before turning a $750,000 production into a $105 million hit.
These new kinds of box office wins signal a major disruption in Hollywood. Blockbusters typically come from comic books, bestsellers, or legacy IP — these movies come from creators who built audiences online before studios even knew their names.
