Backrooms and Obsession are ushering in a new appreciation for low-budget horror movies after both YouTuber-directed projects managed to lead the box office race with strong numbers this weekend.
A24’s Backrooms secured the top spot with an estimated weekend domestic gross of $81.45 million across 3,442 locations and $118 million worldwide. It’s a sign that its creepy pasta-come-to-life concept and strong reviews from critics helped lead audiences to theaters as the summer movie season kicks off.
Backrooms also happens to have been directed by first-time filmmaker and YouTuber Kane Parsons a.k.a. Kane Pixels. The film’s opening weekend performance at the box office would be considered a success for anyone, but its position as a debut feature from a 20-year-old director with a reported $10 million budget only makes its number one spot more impressive.
While A24 celebrates Backrooms taking it to its biggest opening weekend of all time, Focus Features’ Obsession is running victory laps by claiming the number two spot after a third weekend in theaters following its wide May 15 release. The monkey’s paw horror movie, which was directed by 26-year-old YouTuber and comedian Curry Barker on a famously low $750,000 budget, had a monumental $26.4 million domestic pull through the weekend.
That’s a 10% increase from last weekend alone and puts its domestic total at $104.75 million. Obsession also saw a 21% increase internationally with $40.2 million, placing its global total at $148 million. Barker’s breakout hit – which attracted moviegoers with strong word-of-mouth thanks in part to a critically acclaimed performance from Inde Navarrette as Nikki – now stands as the first film to increase through its second and third weekends since Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982.
Audiences are making time to go to the movies, both on the weekends and even during the week, to see low-budget horror movies from relatively unknown directors. IGN felt both movies were worth checking out, too, with both Backrooms and Obsession earning 8/10 reviews from our reviewers. For the latter, we said it “should and will put Barker on the map as a horror filmmaker,” while we called the former a “terrifying and thrilling big-screen debut for the liminal horror classic.”
With Backrooms in first and Obsession in second, third place for the box office’s final weekend in May 2026 fell to Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian and Grogu, while Michael and The Breadwinner rounded out the top five. For more, you can read our explanation of the Backrooms, and you can see what some of the film’s cast had to say about those ghost director rumors. You can also check out our thoughts on Markiplier’s recent feature film, Iron Lung.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
