Before we get to the India chart, we have to talk about what just happened in Hollywood — because it might be the most consequential single weekend in American theatrical exhibition this decade. Two YouTube creators just took the top two spots at the US box office. A 20-year-old's debut film opened to $81 million — three times bigger than the previous A24 record. A $750,000 horror film grew its box office in two consecutive weekends — something only one film has done in the previous 44 years. And the most expensive Star Wars film in seven years collapsed in its second weekend by the steepest margin any Star Wars title has ever recorded. The YouTubers are punching 1 and 2 on the chart. Star Wars got walked off the field. We will be talking about this weekend for a long time.
Two YouTube Filmmakers, Top Two Films, Same Weekend.
If you had told a Hollywood agent in January 2026 that on the last weekend of May, the #1 and #2 films at the US box office would both be directed by YouTube creators — neither of whom is over the age of 27 — that agent would have laughed you out of the office. But that is exactly what happened. Backrooms (#1) was directed by Kane Parsons, age 20, who started uploading the original Backrooms shorts to YouTube when he was 16. Obsession (#2) was directed by Curry Barker, age 26, a former YouTube horror short-film creator whose 2021 viral video "Coverage" laid the groundwork for the feature. Both films were produced by Jason Blum's Blumhouse-Atomic Monster operation. Both films cost less than $11 million combined. Both films opened wider than 2,500 theaters. Both films are now industry-defining commercial successes.
The takeaway is structural, and it goes well beyond box office trivia. Hollywood's traditional development pipeline — film school, indie short, festival circuit, studio meeting, three-year project gestation — has just been outflanked by the YouTube-to-theatrical pipeline, where a 16-year-old can build a global audience for free, then convert that audience into a $118 million worldwide opening four years later. Markiplier's Iron Lung did $50M against $3M earlier this year. The Philippou twins' Talk to Me did $92M against $4.5M in 2022. Obsession and Backrooms are not anomalies. They are the new reality. And Blumhouse has, by far, the cleanest playbook for converting that pipeline to theatrical commerce.
The Star Wars Floor Just Cracked.
Meanwhile, at the same multiplexes, Disney's $165 million Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu — the first theatrical Star Wars film since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019 — was doing something the franchise has never done before. It was dropping 69% in its second weekend. For context: the previous worst-ever Star Wars second-weekend drop belonged to Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) at -65%. The Last Jedi (2017), widely considered the franchise's most divisive entry, dropped -67% in its second weekend and still managed $620M domestic lifetime. Mandalorian and Grogu's $25M second weekend leaves it at $137 million domestic after ten days, against that $165M production budget — and it has now been comprehensively lapped by two films directed by people who weren't even adults when Disney bought Lucasfilm.
Disney's pre-release internal projections, reported by Deadline, were built around a $130M opening weekend. The film opened to $81M three-day / $98M four-day. That's a 25-38% miss against the studio's own model. The streaming-era Star Wars audience — the people who watched The Mandalorian on Disney+ on their phones — did not show up to the multiplex. This is not a new problem. It is the same audience-conversion problem that hit Lightyear, Strange World, and several Marvel TV-to-film extensions over the last three years. But it is the first time it has cratered Star Wars specifically, and that has implications for every Marvel TV character who was supposed to make the jump to film: Wanda, Loki, Echo, the entire Daredevil reboot. The pipeline that Disney has been building since 2019 just got its first true public failure.
Reflecting on Hollywood Before We Pivot: What Does It All Mean?
Three things happened in the same 72 hours that, taken together, suggest the American theatrical audience is in the middle of a structural rotation:
- Audiences are showing up for genre films with strong word-of-mouth, regardless of budget. Backrooms ($10M budget) and Obsession ($750K budget) combined to do $107.8M for the weekend. Mandalorian ($165M budget) did $25M.
- Audiences are not showing up for streaming-native IP at premium ticket prices. Mandalorian, Grogu, and the Mandalorian show have a combined Disney+ viewership in the hundreds of millions of viewer-hours. Almost none of that converted to theatrical purchase.
- The pipeline for new directors has fundamentally changed. Two of the four most commercially successful first-time directors of 2026 came from YouTube. Markiplier was the third (Iron Lung). The fourth (Karuppu's RJ Balaji) came from radio jockeying and standup comedy. Film school produced none of the four.
That is a lot of structural change for one weekend. Now — let's pivot to India, because what's happening at home is, in its own way, just as interesting.
The Full Domestic Chart, May 29–31.
Total weekend domestic: $178.9 million — up 20% year-over-year against the same frame in 2025 (which had Lilo & Stitch in its second weekend plus the Karate Kid Legends opening). Through May 31, the 2026 US calendar-year domestic gross now stands at $3.68 billion, up 11.3% over the same period in 2025. The Comscore industry sentiment going into Memorial Day was anxious about the summer slate; it is considerably less anxious now.
| # | Film | Studio | Wk | 3-day | Total Dom | WW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Backrooms NEW | A24 | W1 | $81.4M | $81.4M | $118M |
| 2 | Obsession | Focus / Universal | W3 | $26.4M | $104.7M | $130M+ |
| 3 | The Mandalorian and Grogu | Lucasfilm / Disney | W2 | $25.0M | $137.3M | $255M |
| 4 | Michael | Lionsgate | W6 | $11.7M | $339.9M | $788M |
| 5 | The Breadwinner NEW | Sony | W1 | $7.5M | $7.5M | $9.2M |
| 6 | The Devil Wears Prada 2 | 20th / Disney | W5 | $5.9M | $209.3M | $666M |
| 7 | Pressure NEW | Focus / Universal | W1 | $5.75M | $5.75M | $6.8M |
| 8 | The Sheep Detectives | Amazon MGM | W4 | $4.6M | $54.5M | $89M |
| 9 | Passenger | Paramount | W2 | $2.7M | $15.3M | $16.8M |
| 10 | Mortal Kombat II | New Line / WB | W4 | $2.0M | $77.7M | $148M |
The Backrooms numbers in detail
A24's Backrooms, adapted from Kane Parsons' viral YouTube series, opened to $81.4 million domestic across 3,442 theaters with a $36.6M international take on top. To put that number in context: A24's previous opening-weekend record was Alex Garland's Civil War ($25.5M in 2024). Backrooms beat it by 3.2×.
The audience composition explains the trajectory. Per Deadline's exit polling, 86% of the Backrooms opening-weekend audience was under 35, with more than half under 25. This is Gen Z showing up to a film whose source material they watched on phones for free. The Hollywood Reporter noted that roughly half the audience came specifically because it was an A24 release; the other half were existing Backrooms fans. The convergence of those two audiences is the entire commercial story of the weekend. By Sunday night, multiple trade outlets were reporting that Backrooms would cross $100M domestic in six days — making it A24's biggest theatrical film ever before its second weekend even began.
Obsession did something no horror film has done in 44 years
The other half of the weekend belonged to the film that wasn't supposed to still be in the conversation. Focus Features' Obsession, directed by Curry Barker on a $750,000 budget, opened to a quiet $19M two weekends ago. Last weekend (Memorial Day frame, May 22–25), it added $22.4M for a +30% sophomore surge — the kind of growth a film typically only sees on Christmas weekend or off a major awards bump. This past weekend, in its third weekend, it grew another 10%, earning $26.4M against last weekend's $22.4M.
The last horror film to grow in both its second AND third weekends outside of Christmas was E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. Forty-four years. That is the comparison the trade press has been making since Sunday morning, and it understates the achievement because E.T. wasn't really a horror film.
| Frame | Theaters | 3-day | % Change | Domestic Cume |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 · May 15–17 | 2,625 | $19.0M | NEW | $19.0M |
| Week 2 · May 22–25 (MDW) | 2,655 | $22.4M | +30% | $58.5M |
| Week 3 · May 29–31 | 2,781 | $26.4M | +10% | $104.7M |
The Obsession mindshare story
Numbers alone don't explain Obsession. What it actually pulled off in May was capturing the cultural conversation. 96% Rotten Tomatoes critic score, 94% audience score. By the second weekend, the film was generating more social-media discussion per dollar of marketing spend than the Mandalorian. Jason Blum, the producer behind both Obsession and Backrooms, told Variety that he's now treating YouTube as a primary scouting ground for the next generation of horror filmmakers. The financial multiple on Obsession — 199× ROI inbound on a $750K negative cost — is in territory typically reserved for found-footage anomalies like Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity. Boxoffy projection: lifetime worldwide should clear $200M, putting it in the top-three highest-ROI theatrical films of the last twenty years.
Star Wars dropped further than it ever has
| Film | Year | Opening Wknd | W2 Drop | Total Dom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Force Awakens | 2015 | $248M | -39% | $936M |
| The Last Jedi | 2017 | $220M | -67% | $620M |
| The Rise of Skywalker | 2019 | $177M | -59% | $515M |
| Solo: A Star Wars Story | 2018 | $84M | -65% | $213M |
| The Mandalorian and Grogu | 2026 | $81M (3-day) | -69% | $137M (W2) |
The Mandalorian and Grogu will likely settle in the $300–340M domestic range — close to Solo's $213M floor but still well below the franchise's lowest-tier expectations. Worldwide cume sits at $255M. Lucasfilm has not yet officially commented on the second-weekend collapse, but Disney CEO Bob Iger's investor call next week will inevitably get a question about it.
Mollywood-Marathi-Tamil Podium. The Hindi Side Sits This One Out.
The India box office during the same May 29–31 frame produced a chart you don't see often: three of the top four films were not Hindi releases. The Hindi chart's only meaningful entry was Pati Patni aur Woh Do holding W3, with Bhooth Bangla's Week 7 tail well below the volume of the regional leaders. Drishyam 3 crossed ₹100 crore India nett to become the 6th Malayalam film ever in the 100 Cr India club. Karuppu became Suriya's biggest-ever grosser. And Deool Band 2, a Marathi devotional drama on a ₹10 crore budget, hit 340% ROI in eleven days — the most profitable Marathi release of 2026.
| # | Film | Lang | Wk · Days | This Wk (BCM) | India Net | WW | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drishyam 3 (M) | Mal | W2 · D14 | ₹17.58 Cr | ₹100.49 Cr | ₹228 Cr | Super Hit |
| 2 | Deool Band 2 | Mar | W2 · D14 | ₹16.15 Cr | ₹51.00 Cr | ₹55 Cr | Super Hit 🏆 |
| 3 | Karuppu | Tam | W3 · D20 | ₹14.25 Cr | ₹188.45 Cr | ₹297 Cr | Super Hit 🏆 |
| 4 | Obsession NEW | HW | W1 · D6 | ₹11.76 Cr | ₹11.76 Cr | ₹1,250 Cr | Hit (IN) |
| 5 | Pati Patni aur Woh Do | Hin | W3 · D20 | ₹6.04 Cr | ₹55.37 Cr | ₹65 Cr | Plus |
| 6 | Raja Shivaji | Mar | W5 · D34 | ₹1.20 Cr | ₹104.57 Cr | ₹131 Cr | Blockbuster |
| 7 | Bhooth Bangla | Hin | W7 · D48 | ₹1.50 Cr | ₹195 Cr | ₹275 Cr | Hit |
| 8 | Athiradi | Mal | W3 · D20 | ₹1.20 Cr | ₹34 Cr | ₹50 Cr | Plus |
| 9 | Chand Mera Dil | Hin | W3 · D13 | ₹1.10 Cr | ₹22 Cr | ₹28 Cr | Average |
| 10 | Krishnavataram Pt 1 | Hin | W4 · D28 | ₹1.00 Cr | ₹35 Cr | ₹40 Cr | Average |
Drishyam 3 crosses ₹100 crore India
Mohanlal's Georgekutty returned for a third outing and crossed ₹100 Cr India nett on Day 13. With the Day 14 close at ₹100.49 Cr nett India and ₹228 Cr worldwide, Drishyam 3 became the 6th Malayalam film ever in the 100 Cr India club, behind Lokah Chapter 1, Manjummel Boys, Vaazha 2, Thudarum, Empuraan, and 2018. Overseas, it was the first South Indian film of 2026 to cross $10 million theatrically. The trajectory has slowed considerably — Day 13's ₹1.55 Cr was the film's lowest single-day collection since release, and the Sundayguardianlive trade report flagged Kerala occupancy at 15.6%, down from near-houseful at opening. Lifetime projection: ₹125-130 Cr India nett (per Koimoi safe-zone estimates), with overseas pushing the worldwide total to ₹275-285 Cr.
Karuppu hits ₹200 Cr India gross. Suriya gets his biggest grosser ever.
Three weeks in and Karuppu is still the cleanest commercial story of 2026 South Indian cinema. India gross ₹217.87 Cr, India nett ₹188.45 Cr, worldwide ₹297 Cr. That puts Karuppu as Suriya's first-ever ₹100 Cr Tamil Nadu gross film, his biggest worldwide grosser, and the biggest Tamil release of 2026 by a clear margin. Director RJ Balaji has shifted his entire career trajectory inside three weeks — from "promising mass-comedy director" to "Suriya's official Mass Director" with a confirmed follow-up already in pre-production. Karuppu enters its fourth week with a chance of an unusual Tamil milestone: top 10 highest-grossing Tamil films of all time, which it sits 1.59 Cr away from at the time of writing.
Deool Band 2 — the Marathi devotional that broke the math
If you missed this one, you're not alone. Pravin Tarde's Marathi devotional drama Deool Band 2 released on Thursday May 21 with almost no national press, secondary to the Drishyam 3 launch the same day. By Day 11, it had earned ₹44 Cr nett against a ₹10 Cr budget — a 340% return on investment. By Day 14 the lifetime is ₹51 Cr nett, making it the most profitable Marathi film of 2026 ahead of Raja Shivaji (39%) and the 5th highest-grossing Marathi film of all time. The story here is the same story as Obsession in a different market: a low-budget genre film with strong word-of-mouth in a specific audience demographic, releasing into a window the major studios had effectively abandoned. Marathi cinema has had three commercial hits in 2026 (Krantijyoti Vidyalay Marathi Madhyam, Raja Shivaji, Deool Band 2) — more profitable releases than the entire Hindi mid-budget slate combined.
Obsession breaks out in India too
Worth noting: Obsession opened in India on May 29 (a week after its US debut) and is doing for the Indian Hollywood horror market what it did for the US. D5 cumul ₹11.76 Cr BCM against a sub-₹10 Cr Indian release marketing spend. India occupancy on Day 5 (Tuesday) was up +31% from Day 4 — the kind of midweek growth Indian Hollywood horror releases almost never produce. Boxoffy projection: Obsession's India lifetime will land between ₹22-26 Cr nett, which would make it the second-best Hollywood horror India release of 2026 behind only Scream 7. For a film with no Indian star, no dubbed marketing campaign, and a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score that 95% of the Indian audience hadn't heard of before opening night, that is a remarkable result.
Bhooth Bangla Won't Stop. Week 7 and Still on the Chart.
The Akshay Kumar-Priyadarshan reunion released on April 17, 2026. That was 48 days ago. The film is now in its seventh week, with the trajectory shown below:
| Week | Days | Weekly Coll | % Drop W/W | Cumul Nett |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W1 | D1-D7 | ₹84.40 Cr | Open | ₹84.40 Cr |
| W2 | D8-D14 | ₹43.75 Cr | -48% | ₹128.15 Cr |
| W3 | D15-D21 | ₹23.20 Cr | -47% | ₹151.35 Cr |
| W4 | D22-D28 | ₹14.55 Cr | -37% | ₹165.90 Cr |
| W5 | D29-D35 | ₹7.15 Cr | -51% | ₹173.05 Cr |
| W6 | D36-D42 | ₹3.14 Cr | -56% | ₹176.19 Cr |
| W7 (in progress) | D43-D48 | ₹2.98 Cr | -5% | ₹195.00 Cr |
Two things to pull out of that table. First — the W7 drop is only -5% vs W6. After six weeks of 35-55% weekly decay, the film is suddenly flattening. Second — between W6 and W7, India nett added ~₹19 Cr in a single mid-cycle update, which means the trade tracking has been catching up to actual collections that were happening but underreported in the previous week's snapshot. The film's worldwide cume is now ₹275 Cr, putting it at the verge of crossing Housefull 4 (₹275 Cr lifetime WW) — which would make it Akshay Kumar's 3rd biggest worldwide grosser post-COVID, behind only Sooryavanshi (₹294 Cr) and Mission Mangal.
The Calendar Through End of June.
| Date | Film | Lang | Studio | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 5 (Fri) | Bandar | Hindi | Zee Studios + Saffron Magicworks | Bobby Deol · Anurag Kashyap · TIFF 2025 premiere |
| Jun 12 (Fri) | Bhooth Bangla on Netflix | Hindi | Netflix | OTT premiere · likely chart exit |
| Jun 19 (Fri) | Cocktail 2 | Hindi | Maddock Films / Dharma | Shahid · Kriti · Rashmika · Homi Adajania |
| Jun 19 (Fri) | Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai | Hindi | NHFilms / Pen Studios | Varun Dhawan · David Dhawan · 50% opening-day discount confirmed |
| Jun 26 (Fri) | Welcome to the Jungle | Hindi | Base Industries / Cape of Good / Seeta Films | Akshay + Suniel + 30+ ensemble · solo Friday · Hype Index ₹19 Cr D1 base |
The empty Hindi window finally ends on June 5 with Anurag Kashyap's Bandar — a TIFF-premiered Bobby Deol vehicle that will test whether Kashyap's auteurist instincts can pull a multiplex audience that hasn't shown up for a Bobby Deol-led mid-budget film since Animal. Then nothing major until June 19's double release (Cocktail 2 vs Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai — the same Friday for the first time), and the big swing comes June 26 with Welcome to the Jungle, Akshay Kumar's solo Friday with no Hindi competition for the entire window.
Our published Hype Index for WTTJ (May 24) projected D1 base ₹19 Cr, lifetime ₹155 Cr, and a Hype Score of 62/100 — Elevated but not Blockbuster. The verdict math depends entirely on whether the final budget came in at ₹180 Cr or ₹275 Cr. At the high end, even the bull case lands below average. We will refresh that piece in mid-June once the trailer drop locks the audience temperature.
Sources & methodology: Hollywood numbers from Comscore Exhibitor Relations via Deadline, Box Office Mojo, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and BoxofficePro for the May 29-31 frame. India numbers from BOI, Sacnilk, Pinkvilla, Bollywood Hungama, Koimoi, Komal Nahta Film Information, TrackTollywood, Business Standard, India TV News, and Filmibeat for the same window. BCM v1.3 reconciliation applied throughout (Sacnilk × 0.95, Koimoi outlier × 0.92, ≥3 source minimum for "actual" else flagged as estimate). Hindi week = Friday to Thursday. Worldwide figures are gross collections. Indian nett figures use Sacnilk-deflated values for cross-source consistency. Late-week numbers (W6+ holdovers) may shift slightly as final trade reports lock during the next 48 hours. © 2026 Boxoffy.com