It's quite possible that this past weekend will go down in history as a turning point for the film industry.
Twenty-year-old director Kane Parsons broke box office records with his debut feature, "Backstage," grossing $81 million on a $10 million budget, making him the youngest director ever to top the box office charts. Meanwhile, twenty-six-year-old director Curry Barker's horror thriller "Obsession" defied historical trends and rose at the box office for the second weekend in a row, turning its $17.1 million opening weekend into a once-unthinkable $26.4 million in its third weekend on a $1 million budget.
Both films beat out Disney's $165 million "The Mandalorian" and "Grog," which dropped $70% from its opening weekend and, despite playing in more theaters, finished third among weekend releases, behind two YouTubers who brought large crowds of Gen Z and Gen A viewers to theaters.
Two relatively new films, directed by Gen Z filmmakers, that have toppled the world's biggest franchise highlight the sea change taking place in cinema and should force Hollywood to rethink its established notions.
Like the explosion of auteur cinema in the 1970s or the wave of indie cinema that saw directors like Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson take over the 1990s, this is a special moment. A new generation of filmgoers is enthusiastically embracing original, confidently crafted horror films from directors who haven't graduated from film school or spent years working the festival circuit. Instead this They honed their craft on YouTube, the world's largest platform for sharing content directly for everyone to see.
Here's a quick overview of how significant this was:
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86% of the audience members who attended the premiere weekend of the film "Behind the Scenes" were under 35 years old.
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Surprisingly, 44% of this audience were under 21 years old.
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The Mandalorian and Grogu, which had nearly identical box office receipts in their opening weekends, had a share of only 27% among the under-25 audience.
The success of films like Behind the Scenes and Whiplash demonstrates that Generation Z not only enthusiastically responds to horror films they consider authentic and original, but also that the next generation of filmmakers is thriving on YouTube. Just as music videos and commercials paved the way for directors like David Fincher and Michael Bay to explode in the '90s, YouTube has become a creative platform for Generation Z filmmakers. They're not just coming, they're already here. They're making videos, honing their craft, and, crucially, building a direct relationship with their audience.
«"YouTube provides me with a reasonable level of financial stability and complete creative satisfaction," Parsons told the New York Times, asserting that he has no plans to leave the platform. "Trying to change the format of certain projects would deprive the original idea of something truly valuable.".
«"Behind the Scenes" was the culmination of Parsons's last four years, which he dedicated to creating eerie short films about the "behind the scenes" of YouTube—an endless series of liminal spaces in which his characters become lost. A24 backed the feature film, for which Parsons enlisted such talented actors as Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Raineswe.
Meanwhile, Obsession was a departure for Barker, who is known for his comedy videos on YouTube and TikTok. But after finding his own directorial style through hit social media videos and his found-footage debut, Milk & Serial, which was shot for $800 and released on YouTube in 2024, he wrote and directed Obsession for Focus Features, about a guy who wishes his best friend would fall in love with him. — with dire consequences.
And the crowd went wild with delight.
Inde Navarrete in "Obsession" (Focus Features)
Why did the films "Behind the Scenes" and "Whiplash" become so popular?
There are key differences between the success of "Behind the Scenes" and "Whiplash." "Behind the Scenes" is essentially a big-screen continuation of the franchise Parsons has been building for years on YouTube, giving fans the chance to experience the next chapter in a larger format, starring movie stars. The fan base of both Parsons and the "Behind the Scenes" brand ensured its incredible opening weekend success.
«Meanwhile, Obsession has been slower to develop. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, where Focus Features acquired the $1 million-budgeted independent film for $15 million. Its opening weekend was good but unspectacular—it's not like Barker fans flocked to the theaters, which is understandable, considering he's primarily known for his comedic roles, and he doesn't even appear onscreen in Obsession.
But the film's growing box office numbers demonstrate that it's a genuine word-of-mouth hit: Barker's critically acclaimed horror thriller is attracting fans and critics alike, creating a "must-see" atmosphere. And all this after Barker honed his skills on YouTube.
«"YouTube is just a modern talent discovery platform," Barker told Massive, arguing that his and Parsons' paths aren't all that different from those of Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, or Ari Aster. "The only difference between me and someone like Ari [Aster], who took a more traditional route, is that I was discovered on YouTube. But I was still making short films and features and kept honing my craft until someone finally said, 'Hey, this is cool, let's make a feature film.'".
Both films firmly establish themselves in the horror genre, which has become a reliable source of box office revenue for Generation Z thanks to films like The Sinners, Gunslinger, and the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise. Horror has been a reliable source of hits for decades, but Generation Z's embrace of the macabre and unsettling certainly offers a glimpse of what this generation of filmmakers has to offer in the coming years.
Remarkably, despite significant overlap in genres and target audiences, the addition of "Behind the Scenes" to the top-grossing list did not impact the success of "Obsession." According to Focus insiders and film distribution sources, the demographics of "Obsession"'s audience this weekend remained the same as the previous two: predominantly 18-35 year olds.
Although "Behind the Scenes" was more geared toward a teenage audience than "Obsession," thanks to imageboards derived from its source material, Gen Z continued to attend "Obsession" consistently, and their behavior varied widely. Some viewers saw the film for the first time, having learned about it from friends, the press, and social media. Others returned for repeat screenings, eagerly anticipating the sudden jump scares, dark humor, and terrifying scenes they now knew awaited them. And still others were a mixed crowd: viewers who had attended the opening weekend brought their unprepared friends to enjoy their terrifying reactions.
This demonstrates how, when paired correctly, horror can have a greater impact than some other genres with significant demographic overlap, as there's more than one way to scare a packed theater. One theater owner told TheWrap that while the "Whiplash"/"Behind the Scenes" phenomenon won't reach the level of "Barbenheimer" in 2023, his theater in the Pacific Northwest did have horror fans planning to see both films as part of a double feature.
Chiwetel Ejiofor in "Behind the Scenes" (A24)
Film School on YouTube
It makes sense that the first generation to grow up in a completely online world would feel such a strong connection to YouTube, and in fact, Parsons is still quite vocal on Discord and Reddit, where he regularly interacts with fans.
The ability to create and distribute his early work quickly was part of what drew Barker to YouTube, where he and his creative partner, Cooper Tomlinson, made a name for themselves by writing, directing, starring in, and editing comedy videos.
«"Every aspiring director's worst nightmare is being paralyzed, having a script written for months, and thinking, 'Oh, don't worry, I'll do this one day,' but never doing it because it becomes too overwhelming," he told TheWrap. "We wrote what we could do right now.".
Both Parsons and Barker are self-taught filmmakers: Parsons is a visual effects virtuoso who created his animated characters and sets in Blender, while Barker, with his knack for editing witty comedic videos, created the tense atmosphere in Obsession.
What happens next?
Given the shock of two horror films with a combined budget of $11 million outgrossing a $165 million Star Wars film featuring Baby Yoda, it's easy to see this as a sign that Hollywood's days of relying on spin-offs, sequels, and pop culture revivals before the turn of the century may be numbered.
But May's highest-grossing film remains a biopic about the '80s pop star who died 17 years ago. The film, expected to become June's highest-grossing release and surpass the $1 billion mark, is the fifth installment in the animated franchise that began in 1995. Disney's remake and the Spider-Man film are also candidates for reaching the $1 billion mark this summer. Long-standing franchises aren't suddenly in danger of disappearing, and forgotten intellectual property, with the right director capable of delivering undeniable quality and a compelling story, can be introduced to a new generation.
But this means the barrier to winning over the 18-35 demographic, especially for projects that Generation Z doesn't have a strong childhood connection to, will only increase. Amazon MGM's Masters of the Universe suddenly has to compete not only with millennials going to see Scary Movie next weekend, but also with these two horror films, which are breaking box office records. For older projects, positive critical reviews and a dedicated fan base aimed at an older audience may not be enough.
It also means that YouTube, once seen as a competitor to movie theaters, could become a new, reliable channel for finding talent, much like it did with commercials and music videos in decades past, and the filmmakers who emerge from it show no interest in straying from the path they've paved.
It's telling that neither Parsons nor Barker are publicly vying to direct a Marvel film or begging Lucasfilm to make a Star Wars spinoff. Barker has already directed his next film, an original horror comedy called Anything But Ghosts for Focus, and has signed on to direct a new iteration of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise for A24.
Parsons, meanwhile, seems determined to continue the Behind the Scenes franchise, perhaps in a television format – he counts USA's Mr. Robot among his favorites.
«"I think I'll go crazy if I don't get this out," he told the New York Times about the expanding universe and mythology of "Backrooms." "The reason I'm even doing "Backrooms" is because of things that haven't happened yet.".
Having grossed $118 million worldwide in its opening weekend, "Behind the Scenes" is on track to surpass the $191 million worldwide gross of "Marty Supreme" and set a new A24 record by the end of next weekend. And it's hard to imagine the studio isn't working to sign Parsons to a sequel in its first long-running franchise.
With $104 million in the US, Obsession has already become Focus' highest-grossing film ever in North America, and is on track to surpass Downton Abbey's $194 million worldwide haul to take the top spot on the distributor's global charts.
Right now, every studio and agent in town is scouring YouTube for the next big voice. Big deals will be made. Some bets will pay off, some won't. But change is already here.
The article "The Future of Cinema Is Here: 'Behind the Scenes' and 'Whiplash' Mark a Turning Point for Hollywood | Analysis" first appeared on TheWrap.