For the first time, two movies made by young, Youtube creators brought in more money than a Hollywood blockbuster from a major franchise.

Star Wars:  Mandalorian and Grogu had a production budget of $160 million, and is floundering in theaters.  Backrooms brought in 6 times more money, but cost less than 10% to produce.  Obsession brought in 30% more money on 1% of the budget.

Here are the stats:

Big Hollywood will try to spin this, but how can they? 

Backrooms has only been out for a day, so that helps with the daily take, but it isn’t in as many theaters and still brought in 6 times the cash.  Audiences and reviewers like it, so we’ll see where it stands in a week.

Obsession has been out for twice as long as The Mandalorian and Grogu,  and still pulled in three times more money per theater. 

Backrooms and Obsession have already turned a profit, and will make a huge return-on-investment by the end of the theatrical run.  Mando and Grogu may end up losing a hundred million dollars.

Earlier this year, Iron Lung, another theatrical release by a Youtube creator, brought in $51 million on a budget of $3 million.

All three Youtuber movies were horror/thriller movies, but with a pool of thousands of Youtube creators, they will eventually branch out to other genres. 

With that much available talent and accessible new video technology, what do we need Hollywood for?