After hitting screens on May 15, Curry Barker's Obsession managed to earn over $17 million across the US and $27 million worldwide during its opening weekend, which is a pretty big feat, seen as though its reported production budget falls under $1 million. This made Obsession the cheapest movie to top the box office in 17 years since the first Paranormal Activity in 2009, according to Forbes.
However, its second weekend went even better, as Obsession managed to pull in $22 million from US theaters ($28.2 million if you count Memorial Day on Monday, too), as per BoxOfficeMojo. This means that Obsession has so far generated over $58 million in the US and $74 million worldwide. That's over 74 times its production budget, making it one of the year’s most profitable releases, as found by Variety.
What makes Obsession's success more impressive is that it is writer and director Curry Barker's first feature film, as the YouTuber moves from short social projects to the big screen. The horror movie follows a young man who wishes that his crush would love him more than anything in the world. But he soon gets more than he bargained for when his wish invites sinister forces into his love life. The film stars Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette.
It seems as though original horror is taking over 2026, as the best-rated scary movies on Rotten Tomatoes this year all seem to bring something different to the table, including Sam Raimi's work trip gone wrong, Send Help, Damian McCarthy's witchy folk horror Hokum, and animal attack gore-fest Primate. Obsession tops the list, currently standing at a 95% score.
Luckily for horror fans, Barker isn't done with the genre yet. Next up for the young director is A24's Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. In an interview with GamesRadar+, Barker teased his interpretation, "I want to do something that's different, but not stray too far from what we know," adding, "There's some really messed-up stuff happening at that farm. It's untapped."
The director has also shown interest in revisiting Obsession. At an early screening of Obsession hosted by GamesRadar+ and Total Film, Barker teased a sequel and an anthology series based on other people's wishes. "What really is exciting to me [would be doing] an anthology, like a one-hour episode. Each episode is a different wish that goes completely off the rails," said Barker, "Maybe I'll direct the pilot with the same DP, and then you could invite other filmmakers to give their spin at it. That would be really cool."
Obsession is out now. For more, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming horror movies heading our way.
