Did you hear that? It’s the sound of phones ringing throughout Hollywood as studio execs hunt for the next Curry Barker, Kane Parsons or Mark Fischbach. “It’s embarrassing,” says one top motion picture agent of the frenzy over the box office performances of Obsession and Backrooms — and the self-distribution success of Iron Lung — as studio execs press for meetings with YouTube creators and reps with digital clients field scores of calls. “Everybody’s realized it’s a skill set to be able to identify these people,” the agent says. “Hollywood’s still run by 81-year-olds, and they’re not watching YouTube at all.”
But as the industry races to replicate the success of these young horror phenoms, there’s a real risk of missing the point. This week I teamed up with my Ankler Media colleague Ashley Cullins, who writes the Ankler’s Dealmakers column, for a special crossover where we unpack why these three movies worked, the real takeaways for Hollywood and the big glaring lesson the industry is missing — plus we identify seven creators with real potential to be the next YouTube-to-theatrical winner.
“What [Obsession and Backrooms] prove is that there’s a massive, underserved appetite for original stories, particularly among audiences under 35,” Ben Ross, CEO at Image Nation, the Emirati studio that’s been on the hunt for low-budget horror projects. “Both films outperformed the latest Star Wars installment — with not even a percentage of that budget. That should be a genuine wake-up call.”
For today, Ashley and I talked to Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear, Ross and Spooky Pictures co-founders Steven Schneider and Roy Lee, plus Verve’s Michael Bitar, UTA’s Jordan Lonner, and Range Media Partners’ Kai Gayoso and others to build a very 2026 playbook for finding emerging filmmakers — and turning their audiences into theatrical momentum.
We’ll loop you in on:
Why Hollywood’s creator gold rush is already chasing the wrong lesson
Seven creators with the audience, chops and industry heat to break through next
The talent-pipeline problem making YouTube irresistible — and risky — for studios
The early signals that Kane Parsons, Curry Barker and Markiplier could mobilize real audiences
What digital creators need beyond a following to get reps, studios and financiers interested
How YouTube, TikTok and other platforms train creators to hook audiences fast
Why Markiplier’s “very creator approach” to Iron Lung offers a blueprint for Hollywood
What really drives the “extraordinary multiples” behind viral horror breakouts
