YouTube is now Hollywood's horror-film pipeline — and the new model for movie making

YouTube-originated films “Backrooms” and “Obsession” delivered blockbuster box-office results over the weekend, highlighting a potential new content pipeline for Hollywood and underscoring the commercial value of creator-led, low-budget films stemming from online platforms. “Backrooms” opened to $81 million domestically ($118M global) on a ~$10M budget and drew a young audience (50% under 25), while “Obsession” has reached $104.8M in the U.S. ($148M worldwide). The success signals stronger monetization and strategic value for Alphabet’s YouTube (GOOG.OQ/GOOGL.OQ) as studios increasingly source IP and talent from online creators, a trend that could benefit platform advertising, distribution partnerships and studio acquisition strategies.