By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
2026 is already a year for the record books. Low-budget horror and psychological thrillers created, written, and directed by YouTubers have turned eye-popping profits that Hollywood’s major studios could only dream of achieving. Iron Lung, Obsession, Back Rooms, all three have surpassed massive blockbusters and the lesson Hollywood should learn is that audiences are begging for something different. The lesson C-suite executives will take from this instead is that they need to start stripmining social media for the next big thing.
The Rise Of YouTubers
Iron Lung was the first to arrive, debuting on January 30 on its way to a box office haul of $52 million. With a budget of $3 million, the inventive video game adaptation was a labor of love by YouTube superstar Mark “Markipiler” Fischbach, writing, directing, starring, and producing the film himself. It’s a true independent film. Not one studio helped finance the film.
You’ll notice a trend. Obsession was written, directed, and produced by Curry Barker, know for the YouTube sketch comedy channel “that’s a bad idea.” On May 15, the world became obsessed with Obsession, which turned a $750,000 budget into a $150 million blockbuster, making it one of the most profitable films in history. On paper, it looks like a huge win for Focus Features and Blumhouse, and it is, both they were brought in to help with distribution and again, had nothing to do with production, funding, or developing the film. That was all Barker and his team.
Two times is a coincidence, three times is a trend. Backrooms is the long-awaited big-screen adaptation of Kane Parsons creepy web series, developed with only $10 million. Directed by Kane Parsons, the YouTuber also worked on the film’s score, and this time, it was produced by James Wan, Shawn Levy (Director of Deadpool & Wolverine), and Osgood Perkins (director of last year’s horror hit, Longlegs). Parsons creation debuted to $118 million, making it the largest opening weekend in the history of A24. It also deserves credit for utilizing Chiwetel Ejiofor better than any major studio has since Serenity.
Audiences Want Original Films
All three films added together are less than 5 percent of the budget for Avengers: Doomsday. There’s room for massive sci-fi blockbusters, and the success of these YouTubers shouldn’t diminish the other fantastic films hitting theaters this year, but for theaters, and cinema in general, to survive, it needs films that don’t require breaking $500 million to turn a profit. That and, as fun as interconnected movie universes are, films that don’t require any homework are always welcome. The Mandalorian and Grogu is still fun if you haven’t watched all three seasons, and The Book of Boba Fett, and Clone Wars, but the average moviegoer might not know that.
It’s why 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple fell flat on its face despite being a wild new spin for the series. You don’t have to have played Iron Lung to enjoy the movie, and you don’t need years worth of lore on the Backrooms, you can show up, scream, and leave. That and theaters for all three Youtuber horror films this year were packed with the most coveted of all audiences by movie studios: 16 to 25 year olds, traveling in packs.
The Communal Viewing Experience
If theaters are to survive in the new age of streaming they need to offer something that Netflix can’t. It’s the communal viewing experience. Low-budget horror has always been more fun when viewed with friends. This new wave is no exception. It helps that all of them either started on YouTube with a built in audience or, in the case of Obsession, it perfectly captures the imagination of social media.
Gigantic blockbusters bring in mind-blowing amounts of money. They also cost mind-blowing amounts of money. Iron Lung, Obsession, and Backrooms were dirt cheap to make and more profitable than most CGI powered franchise films. All three managed to get the most elusive group of movie watchers back into the theater, and all of them were social media hits. It’s a recipe for success and none of them played by the Hollywood rulebook to get there.
