June 2026
Nostradamus Perspectives
By Hillevi Gustafson

YouTubers Take The Box-Office

The last issue of this newsletter dug into the emerging YouTube-to-Film-Industry pipeline and now we have some impressive receipts to show for it. One of the films we discussed was Kane Parson’s Backrooms. The film, released by A24, has now hit theaters in the US and started rolling out around the world. Simultaneously, Obsession by fellow YouTuber Curry Barker continues its theatrical run in the US for the third week. Together they are, believe it or not, dominating the box-office - beating out the latest Star Wars installment. Backrooms has so far taken in $118 million worldwide, significantly outperforming its predicted debut and making this A24’s highest grossing opening weekend ever and Kane Parsons the youngest filmmaker to top the box office charts. Meanwhile, Obsession continues to increase its take for the third week, up another 10% after its second week bump of 39%, showing just how strong the word of mouth is for that film. According to Focus, its distributor this is the first film to achieve this week three increase feat since ET in 1982.

One of the major themes in this year’s Nostradamus report is how the creator economy and the traditional business are converging. Unlike the success of Markiplier’s Iron Lung earlier this year, Backrooms and Obsession are examples of the industry successfully absorbing talent from the creator class, rather than them going at it alone. All three projects - not to mention the multiple TV-like shows on YouTube that are submitting for Primetime Emmy consideration - seem to indicate that 2026 might be seen as a bit of a watershed year. If you want to dig deeper into this, make sure you check out chapter three of the report.

Further listening: 

The Rest is Entertainment: ‘Backrooms’: Has YouTube Just Saved Hollywood

The Big Picture: ‘Backrooms’ Is the Future of Movies, With Kane Parsons!

The Town: Peter Chernin on ‘Backrooms’ and Where the Smart Money Is Going in Hollywood