Young audiences turned out in droves to movie theatres around the country this weekend for a small-budget horror from a 20-year-old first-time filmmaker that began on the Internet. Backrooms, released by A24 in 3,442 locations in the U.S. and Canada, made an astonishing $81.5 million in its first three days in theatres, according to studio estimates on Sunday. And Backrooms, which was directed and co-written by YouTube creator Kane Parsons, cost only $10 million to produce.

The wild success of the film didn’t even hurt Obsession, which is also the directorial debut of a YouTuber, Curry Barker, who is only 26. Three weekends in, a movie that cost less than $1 million to make still hasn’t dropped below its opening weekend earnings. This weekend, it was up 10 per cent with another $26.4 million for a second-place finish, leaving Star Wars, the legacy franchise movie from the veteran filmmaker and the Walt Disney Studios, in third with $25 million.

YouTube might not be the death of movie theatres after all. If this weekend is any indication, it could be the industry’s new great hope.