"Spider-Man: Brand New Day," released in July, has grossed nearly a billion dollars in the U.S. alone, which, heading into fall, has Matt Belloni and others in Hollywood experiencing an unusual emotion: mild optimism.
asserted
Belloni → release → emotion
"I think we've had a successful year at the box office a), because there are more movies; then b) I think this year there have been movies for different audiences," he said.
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he → think → audiences
"We see movies like 'Obsession' and 'Backrooms' bring in the younger audience.
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movies → see → audience
We've seen 'The Odyssey' bring in the older audience.
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Odyssey → see → audience
We've seen a mass-market hit like 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' bring in everybody.
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hit → see → everybody
Belloni is founding partner at Puck News, and the host of "The Town" podcast.
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Belloni → found → podcast
He knows just about every player at every studio.
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He → know → studio
"This year they are finally up to a cadence of movies that, even when they don't all work, they contribute to the box office," he said.
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he → work → office
Take this summer: With its $4.7 billion in domestic box office, the summer of 2026 was the highest-grossing in history (not adjusted for inflation).
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summer → take → inflation
Across North America, 322 million tickets were sold, up 22% from last year.
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tickets → sell → America
What Hollywood cheered most was who was buying those tickets: 18-to-35-year-olds, who made up 37% of the audience, a strong rebound since the pandemic.
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who → cheer → pandemic
And much of that elusive demographic showed up for "Obsession," directed by 25-year-old Curry Barker; and for "Backrooms," directed by a 21-year-old, Kane Parsons.
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much → show → old
"They were movies that were expected to do okay, but they were not expected to gross hundreds of millions of dollars and become phenomenons," Belloni said.
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Belloni → expect → dollars
"Obsession," a horror riff on getting what you think you want, was made for under a million dollars – and has grossed more than half a billion worldwide.
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you → get → billion
In its opening weeks, 75% of its audience was under 35, a success that elated the film's executive producer Jason Blum, who told a Producers Guild of America panel in June, "There's f*****g hope in the movie business, and it's exciting and it's great."
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it → open → business
According to Blum, "The stars of the internet, they want to make movies."
uncertain
they → accord → movies
Director Curry Barker is one of those internet stars, a YouTube content creator who gained a huge following making horror shorts and comedy skits.
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who → gain → shorts
Some 800 million YouTube views later, learning along the way, Barker stepped onto his set as a first-time feature film director, writer and editor, an experience he called "really overwhelming and nerve-wracking.
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he → learn → director
But then after I'd called 'action' on the first day, done a couple takes and called 'cut,' I very quickly realized that like, wait a second, yes, this is a bigger scale, but this is exactly the same thing I've been doing since I was 12 years old with my brothers.'
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I → call → brothers
"
For Belloni, it's a path to the big time that isn't like the olden days: "You would go to Sundance and you would be a breakout, you would do a short film, you would do a commercial, you would do a music video, and then Hollywood would come calling and you would get a first feature.
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you → go → feature
What's happening now is that these young filmmakers are not just honing their craft; they're also honing their audience.
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they → happen → audience
It's an audience that showed up massively for fellow first-time director Kane Parsons.
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that → show → Parsons
His film "Backrooms" grossed $118 million worldwide in its opening weekend, making him, at age 20, the youngest director ever of a #1 film.
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him → gross → film
The movie was based on an unlikely viral photo of an empty store, which Parsons used as the inspiration for a video he created and posted to YouTube (now watched nearly 100 million times) featuring someone trapped in a series of maze-like rooms.
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he → base → rooms
Soon, the studio A24 came calling.
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A24 → call → ?
"'Backrooms' had a world around it," said Belloni.
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Belloni → have → it
"It had something that particularly high school kids and 20-somethings knew about.
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kids → have → that
If you're a studio, you want a pre-interested audience.
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you → want → audience
'Pre-branded' is what they say, and that's what 'Backrooms' ended up being for that audience.
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Backrooms → say → audience
Will we see more of this?
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we → see → this
Belloni said, "We're seeing announcements once a week from studios around town that are at least developing projects based on YouTube videos, or creators that have a following – you know, this guy has a couple million followers, let's see what he can do.
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he → say → what
"All YouTube content creators, we start with zero subscribers," said Mark Vins.
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Vins → start → subscribers
"And those first few years, those formative moments, your audience encouraging you, that's really the only positive feedback you have."
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you → encourage → you
Vins should know; over the course of a dozen years, his YouTube channel "Brave Wilderness" has gone from zero to more than 20 million subscribers.
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channel → know → subscribers
He just debuted his first feature length documentary, "Reef to Ridge," at the Toronto International Film Festival.
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He → debut → Festival
"One of the questions I get asked often is, how do you pick your next story? How do you pick your next adventure?" Vins said.
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Vins → ask → adventure
"And my answer is always the same: We have the world's largest focus group on YouTube, and we listen to them."
And thanks to YouTube's technology, creators can study what and how their audiences are watching.
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audiences → have → what
Vins said, "It's not just the comment section; there's, like, deep analytical tools that we have, and we pay attention to all of those metrics, whether it's, like, you know, the retention graph, to when people are tuning in, tuning out, the click-through rate.
asserted
people → say → metrics
All of that information creates an alchemy that becomes our instinct as creators.
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that → create → creators
It's a new kind of film school, which makes perfect sense to Kim Larson, YouTube's Head of Creators.:
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which → make → Creators
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
