New Star Wars Movie Falls to #3 Behind Two Movies Directed By YouTube Stars (variety.com)
- Reference: 0183492860
- News link: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/26/05/31/1922204/new-star-wars-movie-falls-to-3-behind-two-movies-directed-by-youtube-stars
- Source link: https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/backrooms-box-office-record-opening-weekend-obsession-jumps-star-wars-crumbles-1236763355/
"Despite playing on far more screens, The Mandalorian and Grogu landed in third place on weekend charts behind Backrooms and Obsession. " (described as "two buzzy horror films.") Suprisingly, both movies were directed by 20-something YouTube stars, "and cost nearly nothing to produce." Analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations tells Variety , "We knew indie horror was hot, but we didn't know how hot. It's actually competing with the big summer blockbuster."
> Directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, "Backrooms" has earned $118 million globally so far... With a production budget of roughly $10 million, it's already one of the most profitable movies of the year. Though a sequel hasn't been announced, Parsons has already [2]started toying with the idea of turning "Backrooms" into a film franchise... [The "Backrooms" premise [3]seems to have originated on 4chan , then expanded in a YouTube video Parsons filmed [4]when he was 16 .] "Backrooms" also ranked as the biggest debut in history for original horror, as well as the best start for a first-time filmmaker on a non-franchise film. Parsons is the youngest director, by far, to have the No. 1 film at the box office. Based on Parsons' hit web series, "Backrooms" follows a furniture store owner (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who finds a secret doorway that leads him to a seemingly endless stretch of nondescript rooms. When he disappears, his therapist (Renate Reinsve) ventures into the unknown to rescue him.
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> Nearly 85% of audiences were under the age of 35, and more than 50% were 25 or younger, according to PostTrak data. Parsons and [26-year-old Obsession director/writer Curry] Barker are part of a wave of YouTubers who have turned their talents to the big screen — and brought their enormous, youthful fanbases along with them. Earlier this year, YouTube creator Mark Fischback directed, self-financed and distributed the horror film "Iron Lung," which earned a stellar $50 million against a $3 million budget.
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> What's all the more impressive is that "Backrooms" and "Obsession" aren't cannibalizing each other at the box office. In fact, "Obsession" rose 10% from the prior weekend, which was already up a stunning 39% from its solid $17 million debut. It's defying box office norms as the first film since "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" in 1982 to see ticket sales increase in its second and third weekends outside of the holiday season, according to Focus. After three weekends of release, "Obsession" has grossed $106 million domestically and $148 million worldwide against a mere $1 million production budget.
The first-weekend box office for The Mandalorian and Grogu was the worst since 2002's Attack of the Clones , but then it's second-weekend drop in sales was also the largest ever, [5]reports ScreenRant . The next-worst drop in sales (for a second weekend) was 2017's The Last Jedi , they point out, but The Last Jedi was dropping from a 2.5x larger debut. Their article suggests The Mandalorian/Grogu box office "may not ever hit a total large enough for the titular duo to return to the big screen," although it could eventually show a profit. "While it likely won't break even in theaters, it will earn additional revenue from merchandising on top of its impending streaming, video on demand, and physical media releases."
[6] Variety adds that Disney "is hoping that next summer's Star Wars: Starfighter , an original adventure directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, serves as a fresh start for the franchise."
[1] https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/backrooms-box-office-record-opening-weekend-obsession-jumps-star-wars-crumbles-1236763355/
[2] https://variety.com/2026/film/features/backrooms-explained-director-kane-parsons-sequels-1236760780/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms
[4] https://www.thewrap.com/backrooms-a24-kane-parsons-youtube/
[5] https://screenrant.com/the-mandalorian-and-grogu-box-office-week-2-domestic-drop/
[6] https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/backrooms-box-office-record-opening-weekend-obsession-jumps-star-wars-crumbles-1236763355/
Streaming different than theaters (Score:3)
It was cute and funny and well done for streaming. But streaming is a subscription, the month is paid for, you're sometimes browsing for something to watch. The Mandalorian and baby Yoda can be a pretty damn good option for such a circumstance. But going to the theatre and spending big bucks on this is a completely different thing. Even a good streaming show will have a hard time jumping the chasm to the movie theater.
I grew up going to theatre on a pretty regular basis with friends. But today, it pretty much requires something special, something that is spectacular on IMAX. Things like "Project Hail Mary". Otherwise, wait for it to show up on streaming.
I hope Star Wars: Starfighter will be spectacular on IMAX.
cost nearly nothing to produce? (Score:2)
I rarely watch movies, but I recognize the main actor of Backrooms so he must'be cost a lot to recruit. Also, the actual backrooms don't look green screen to me, so they must've found a good place to shoot it, that's ignoring the wallpapers and all the prep they had to do to the location
Re: (Score:2)
The movie makers built a 30,000 sq ft labyrinth of apparently random corridors and chambers, all carpeted, fluorescent lit and decorated in the same sickly yellow wallpaper on soundstages in Vancouver.
The maze-like sets were reportedly so realistic that some crew members got disoriented navigating through them during filming.
Re: (Score:2)
it didn't do well, but I liked him in Redbelt. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
(it's more a "noir" evocative thing than a fighting movie)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redbelt
A beautiful resurgence (Score:1)
Now that Hollywood has calcified into old-guard money and thinking, YouTube has become a great laboratory for filmmakers to hone their craft. Perhaps Disney will let a YouTube director have a crack at the next Star Wars movie?
Re: A beautiful resurgence (Score:2)
They won't cause it would probably validate everything you said.
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And they'll have to pay more for it than . . . nothing for another rehash of a franchise they already own.
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Disney isn't going to let anyone do stuff with Star Wars or any of their properties.
Same thing with Bond, now that Amazon owns it all.
Star Wars should've ended with the McGregor/Jackson ones (and, most definitely not had JarJar, or rewrote 'who shot first').
Re: A beautiful resurgence (Score:2)
Jar jar was supposed to turn out to be a sith lord, a mirror of yoda but they chickened out. It would have been great if they hadn't, and a plot twist as good as in the original trilogy.
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> Jar jar was supposed to turn out to be a sith lord, a mirror of yoda but they chickened out. It would have been great if they hadn't, and a plot twist as good as in the original trilogy.
IIRC, Jar Jar was key in the Senate's voting for the Empire to go to war. So he sort of accomplished what the Sith Lord incarnation would have.
Re: A beautiful resurgence (Score:3)
The jokes about Darth Jar Jar were everywhere of course, but it could have worked. Star Wars lifted a few ideas from classic SF sources including Asimov's Foundation series - in which, we might recall, the terrifying, unstoppable galactic warlord known as The Mule was hiding in plain sight as a clown, who seemed to be merely a harmless entertainer at court. His military success was chiefly thanks to his psychic ability to manipulate others' minds to his liking - Darth Jar Jar could have done very well that
Re: (Score:2)
Honestly, I didn't know that... that could've been interesting. Jar Jar starts as a supporter of Jedis, and later on does the whole Dark Side transition... done right, he could've been as terrifying as the Mouth Of Sauron, or even worse.
But, to just shove a character into the universe, then just vanish them, that's just bad practice.
Unfortunately, that kind of thing is becoming the new 'norm' in movies today.
That'd be like deciding to continue the original Master And Commander movie, but you replace the Ca
Mandalorian & Grogu was a good movie (Score:2)
It wasn't a big theatre-experience movie, it was more like a handful of really good television episodes strung together.
In that sense, it was both a good movie and deserved the bad reviews it got.
Risk (Score:1)
There is a point where making another remake is riskier than making something new. We passed that point 15 movies ago.
Re: (Score:2)
Absolutely... there was the originals, then the newish three (McGregor/JarJar... they weren't too bad, but they were obviously catered to a specific audience)... should've been left at that.
If Mandalorian got into a lot of backstory, it'd be interesting, but not groundbreaking (never watched it).
Same with properties like Harry Potter or the whole One Ring series... if they turned Harry into a big series (I know they did a LOTR series), what more can you realistically do to advance the story? If they did Si
Rogue One, Andor, ... (Score:3)
> There is a point where making another remake is riskier than making something new. We passed that point 15 movies ago.
Rogue One was actually good, a worthy companion of episodes IV and V.
As for the companion streaming series, Andor, IMHO it was amazingly good and a worthy companion to the above three movies.
Stop beating a dead horse (Score:2)
This is what happens when you milk an IP for every penny possible and keep rehashing old tired shit. We don't need any more baby yoda, that's so like a decade ago and so played out.
There were only three movies. (Score:2)
It ended there.
Re: (Score:2)
Obligatory XKCD (but about the Matrix...) :)
[1]https://xkcd.com/566/ [xkcd.com]
[1] https://xkcd.com/566/
haters put me off star wars (Score:1)
haters put me off star wars, I don't feel like watching any more if they say it's all bad..
I'm just not interested in more Star Wars (Score:5, Insightful)
I saw three Star Wars movies when I was young. They were great. Mainly because I was a child and this stuff was new and fresh and exciting to me. Even the Ewoks.
I saw three more when I was not quite so young. They were... poor.
I saw a couple more when I was older. One was great, the other was okay but a retread of one of the old ones, and I never got round to seeing the rest. Didn't care enough.
Now they've got more, and apparently they're based on a TV series they did, which I didn't watch because I wasn't subscribed to that streaming platform at the time. So I'm not going to see those either. Same reason I've not seen a Marvel superhero film since the first Avengers one - just too much homework required with all the backstory. Every scene is a shout out or reference that I won't get. Every character seems to be getting ever louder and angrier and more and more of them have access to time machines. I just don't have it in me to care anymore.
I like the sound of these horror films, though. They're going to tell a complete story? In one film? With a beginning, middle and end, that don't ask me to be up to date on an entire Cinematic Universe? Sounds great, time to check where they're showing!
Re: (Score:3)
The original star wars movies had many elements that drew in audiences at the time, including a plot about a mystical force that was guiding a new hero on a path to save the galaxy from overwhelmingly oppressive tyranny. The events were significant and the family-tie shockers injected some drama and so they were good.
But "Star Wars: The Last Flop" lost the thread. Instead of a plot that was even more epic and had even more galactic significance, it just doubled-down on the family drama and kind of lumbere
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Ditto
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They lost me at the lava battle.
I do hear I'm missing out on Andor.