Star Wars creators as Backrooms and Obsession achieve impressive box office results.

      This weekend at the box office, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu faced significant competition not from The Galactic Empire or another Disney franchise, but from a surge of Gen Z moviegoers supporting two highly praised horror films. The results are remarkable.

      A24’s Backrooms raked in an impressive $81 million at North American theaters, while Obsession achieved the unprecedented milestone of surpassing its box office earnings from the previous two weekends, totaling $26.4 million. Both films were directed by YouTubers: Backrooms by 20-year-old Kane Parsons and Obsession by 26-year-old Curry Barker.

      The former had a production budget of $10 million and grossed $118 million globally on its opening weekend, marking the largest debut in A24's history and making Parsons the youngest director to have the top film at the box office. We described Backrooms as “a rather remarkable debut, steeped in existential dread and psychological terror” in our ★★★★ review (which you can read here).

      Obsession’s performance was equally striking, showing a 10% increase compared to the previous week and becoming the first film since 1982’s E.T. The Extra Terrestrial to see ticket sales rise over its first three weekends. This impressive horror film has now earned $106 million domestically and $148 million worldwide, all while being produced on a modest budget of under $1 million.

      With these two breakout hits taking the top spots, last week’s leader Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu experienced a significant 70% decline. The Disney+ spin-off collected $25 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $137.4 million and its global earnings to $246.6 million. Disney and Lucasfilm are now hoping to rejuvenate the franchise next summer with Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter, featuring Ryan Gosling from Project Hail Mary.

      As always, feel free to share what you decided to spend your ticket money on this weekend by visiting our social media channels @FlickeringMyth…