20-Year-Old Director’s Movie Shatters Records at Box Office

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It’s been a huge win for Gen Z this weekend, with 20-year-old director Kane Parsons’ Backrooms smashing expectations and bringing in $81 million domestically and $118 million total with international sales.

The movie follows Parsons’s hit YouTube series of the same concept, in which a furniture store owner is led into a world of endless, nondescript rooms.

With a production budget of just $10 million, the film has broken numerous records with its staggering opening: the biggest opening weekend for A24, Parsons as the youngest director to have a No. 1 box office film, the biggest debut in history for original horror, and the best start for a first-time filmmaker behind a non-franchise film. Obsession, also directed by Gen Z YouTuber Curry Barker, continued to impress in its third week, still holding second place at the box office with $26.4 million earned this weekend.

The production budget for the flick was less than $1 million.

More disappointing was the shocking 70percent drop in ticket sales for the Star Wars spinoff, The Mandalorian and Grogu.

It seems the franchise’s historic popularity just isn’t bringing the money in for Disney.

https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/backrooms-box-office-record-opening-weekend-obsession-jumps-star-wars-crumbles-1236763355/">Read it at Variety

https://www.thedailybeast.com/20-year-old-director-kane-parsons-backrooms-shatters-records/">Read more at The Daily Beast.