Two YouTubers topped the US box office by renting one theater and buying every seat

BBC News reported in June 2020 that Unsubscribe, a 29-minute horror film shot on Zoom, generated $25,488 in ticket sales on 10 June 2020 and topped the US daily chart on Box Office Mojo. It was seen by two people in one cinema. Eric Tabach, an actor and YouTuber, and filmmaker Christian Nilsson made it after noticing that during the pandemic chart totals were small, and set out to find a way "to get the biggest number".

They used four-walling, where a distributor rents out a theatre for a flat fee and keeps any seat revenue. Nilsson wrote the script in one day, friends including Charlie Tahan of Ozark acted for free, and they shot over five days in May on Zoom. They rented an independent theatre in Westhampton Beach, New York, where Nilsson used to work, and bought every ticket. Tabach said they made a slight loss on the rental.

The film took first place ahead of The Wretched, which earned $22,566 across 99 cinemas. IMDb, which owns Box Office Mojo, initially rejected the entry for lack of proof and approved it after media coverage.

Four-wall one tiny theater: pay a flat rental, buy out every seat, and the ticket revenue alone beats a near-empty chart.

Hollywood releases were on hold, so the bar to top the daily chart was only about $9,000 to $15,000 a film.

Four-walling lets a distributor buy all the seats, so the filmmakers controlled the ticket count.

A flat, small theatre rental kept the real cost near zero (they said a slight loss).

Media coverage helped convince Box Office Mojo's owner the entry was legitimate.

When a ranking is thin, look for a legitimate distribution mechanism that lets a small player cross the line first.

The film can be watched on Vimeo. Tabach said it may be a one-off, obscure trivia answer, but that it shows you can always find creative ways to get something done in difficult circumstances. The BBC reports revenues as given by the filmmakers and Box Office Mojo, with the $0 budget being the filmmakers' own description.