In a previous article, I discussed the success of the science fiction horror film, Iron Lung, a movie directed by YouTuber Markiplier. I had expressed hope that this was a sign of a growing change in entertainment, and I suggested that theaters take note of Markiplier’s success. It seems they have.

Over the last few weeks, three films all made by YouTube creators have outperformed Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, which some were hoping would at least be a moderate success for Disney after a long list of failures for the Mouse’s version of the Star Wars franchise.

The Mandalorian series was arguably Star Wars’ greatest success since acquiring the franchise from George Lucas, but at the time of this writing, the movie has made approximately $294 million, which sounds like a lot, but not so much when one considers that it took $165 million to make and, as for the marketing, one estimate puts the cost at $100 million, but it is generally accepted that the marketing costs are the same as production, so, depending on which numbers you’re willing to believe, it’s arguable that the film has not yet made its money back.

Whether the movie is still in the hole or has managed to make around $30 million, one thing is for sure. The movie has performed below Disney’s expectations. It brought in $102 million domestically over Memorial Day weekend, which means that The Mandalorian and Grogu has the worst opening weekend for a Star Wars film to date.

This suggests two things. Number One: Disney should just give up already and remove the Star Wars sequel trilogy from canon. That’s the only way the franchise is ever going to see a profit. Number Two: It’s highly possible that not only will YouTubers be able to compete with Hollywood, but more specifically, they may bring in larger audiences than streaming services.

The LA Times states that Disney was hoping to use The Mandalorian and Grogu as a way to revitalize their streaming service. They basically wanted to use the movie as a way to advertise the Star Wars brand, bringing people to Disney Plus. Instead, when one considers the ROI, the movie was dominated by three separate YouTubers.

The three movies in question are The Backrooms, Obsession, and The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act. I mentioned in my previous review that the studio system was in trouble and the YouTubers had a good chance of creating something that could essentially replace them. Instead, something interesting has happened. Markiplier had to basically run his own campaign to feature his film in 3,000 theaters. But in the case of these films, studios were actually involved in the process.

Kane Parsons, creator of The Backrooms, was approached by A24. They wanted to turn his YouTube series into a feature film, and they co-distributed it with North Road. Obsession, created by Curry Barker, was acquired by Focus Features after Barker pitched the movie to James Harris, who reached out to Barker after seeing one of his short films. The Amazing Digital Circus took a different route.

This film is based on a series created by Gooseworx, who partnered with Glitch Productions, an independent Australian studio that puts out YouTube content and also has a deal with Netflix to show the episodes of the series. Glitch partnered with Fathom Entertainment, which specializes in theatrical distribution.

What this shows is that the studios and the YouTubers are beginning to work together, and they are creating a system that can rival a mammoth company like Disney. Be it creating an independent studio or having a studio notice a particular project on YouTube, these creators are showing that their audiences will turn out for their films, and these creators’ channels are doing more for their films than millions of dollars in marketing or a massive streaming service can do for their own projects at a fraction of the cost.

I went and saw both The Backrooms and Obsession in theaters, and I maintain that it has easily been over a decade since I’ve seen a theater so full. Really, I can’t remember the last time there have only been two or three seats remaining in a theater and the audience actually turned up. That’s a suspicious subject unto itself, but I won’t address it here.

And the wildest part was that the entire audience was young. I’ve never felt like the oldest guy in a room before, but I did then, and if my experience is any indicator of a trend, then that means these YouTubers are bringing young people back to the theaters. And I’ll take a risk here and suggest that perhaps it wasn’t Covid that killed the theater. Perhaps people still crave human interaction and the moviegoing experience. Perhaps the low turnout has been due to the quality of the productions the population has been subjected to of late.

On this subject, my mind turns to The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act. That storyline raises questions about the distinctions between human consciousness and AI. One might not agree with the series’ conclusions. I’ll freely admit that I’ve seen the series, but not the film, so I don’t know where the movie lands on the matter.

But the show raises such questions, and audiences were intrigued enough to go to a theater to find out the series’ answer without millions of dollars worth of commercials reminding them to do it. This suggests to me that younger audiences are interested in deeper content, not the generic and preachy slop that traditional production companies put out in the name of risk aversion.

As for the numbers, they are as follows. The Backrooms took $10 million to make, and, at the time of this writing, it has grossed $212 million globally. Obsession took $750 thousand to make and has made $234 million globally at the time of this writing. The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act has not been out as long as the previous two films, and there is no official production budget.

The only estimate I was able to find was $3 million for the movie’s production, and this might be based on the production estimations of animated content. But regardless of the cost of production, during opening weekend, it grossed $26 million. The number is smaller than the previous two films, but The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act still landed in the top five movies worldwide during the weekend ending June 7th, 2026, and yes, it out-performed The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Personal pleasure over watching Disney eat more crow aside, this trend suggests that the economic model of entertainment might be changing, and as I said before, AI is only going to further drive the cost of production down as time goes on. I think it’s fair to say that I was right in the respect that YouTubers are quickly replacing the A-list celebrities, and while I’m surprised to see the studios going along with this trend, I’m not at all disappointed, and, for the first time in a long time, I’m hopeful for the future of entertainment.