After nearly two months in theatres, the Hollywood indie Obsession breakout has grossed a remarkable $403 million worldwide, including $245 million domestically and $157 million from international markets. The twisted horror-romantic fantasy, directed by filmmaker and YouTube creator Curry Barker, had its distribution rights acquired by Focus Features for $14 million at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Produced on a modest budget of just $750,000, the film has gone on to become one of the most profitable theatrical success stories of the year.
Most films, including big-budget studio releases, typically experience significant declines or leave theatres altogether by their eighth weekend. Obsession, however, has continued to perform strongly, collecting $5.3 million domestically and $12 million internationally over the Fourth of July holiday frame.
The film is now closing in on the $250 million milestone in North America, a feat achieved by very few original films in the challenging post-pandemic theatrical landscape. Released on May 15, Obsession opened with $17 million in North America, an encouraging debut for an original independent horror film. What followed, however, was even more remarkable. Rather than slowing down after opening weekend, the film’s ticket sales continued to grow, resulting in four consecutive weekends that each outperformed its opening weekend.
The film’s extraordinary run has largely been driven by positive word of mouth and strong support from Gen Z audiences, who helped turn it into one of the year’s biggest theatrical success stories. Obsession follows Bear, played by Michael Johnston, a hopeless romantic who makes a Faustian bargain in an attempt to win the heart of his crush, Nikki, played by Inde Navarrette.
Obsession arrived during the same summer as A24’s sleeper hit Backrooms, another horror film that challenged the conventional belief that younger audiences were losing interest in theatrical moviegoing. Instead, both films demonstrated that Gen Z audiences are still eager to experience original films on the big screen when they offer something fresh and compelling.
Backrooms, directed by filmmaker and YouTube creator Kane Parsons, has also enjoyed an exceptional theatrical run, earning $347 million worldwide to date. “There’s a new generation of moviegoers who are declaring a very specific taste for horror movies that is quite left-of-center,” Jason Blum, who produced Obsession and Backrooms through Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, told Variety earlier this summer. “There’s a lot of concern about theatrical, and this is a real new growth area.”
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Curry Barker admitted that Obsession’s unexpected success even influenced his thinking while working on his next feature. “There was a time when Obsession was on the festival circuit that Cooper and I were thinking we needed to make Ghosts scarier. It affected the script a little bit. It’s a buddy comedy, but it’s still going to be scary and messed up. You can’t not have these feelings when your first movie is breaking box office records and you’re in your room editing your next movie thinking, ‘Oh my god, did I take this beat from Obsession?’ Thank God I have people around me to ground me and tell me that Anything But Ghosts is good and different, and that’s OK. Nobody wants the same movie twice. So people can expect it to be very different from Obsession, but my voice will still be very strong in it.”
With more than $400 million now collected worldwide and its theatrical run still continuing, Obsession has firmly established itself as one of the biggest independent box office success stories of recent years.
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