Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston in 'Obsession.' Courtesy of Focus Features Emerging director Curry Barker‘s supernatural horror film Obsession earned a promising $2.6 million in Thursday previews and Wednesday early access screenings.
That’s a stellar start, considering the $1 million film is only projected to open to $10 million to $12 million domestically during an otherwise quiet weekend before the long Memorial Day holiday.
It remains to be seen whether the R-rated genre pic has enough upside to turn the weekend into a closer-than-expected battle with The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Michael Jackson biopic Michael, which are tipped to top othe chart.
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One key advantage — younger adults in the 18-24 bracket aren’t turning out in for those two films. Another — Obsession has won over both critics and audiences in equal measure, boasting a coveted 95 percent score among both categories on Rotten Tomatoes as of midday Friday.
Barker, 26, has spent the past few years amassing an avid fan base on YouTube with his sketch comedy channel, That’s a Bad Idea. He next made the $800 found-footage serial killer feature Milk & Serial, which went viral. Almost overnight, everyone in town was trying to win him over; he ultimately signed UTA.
Obsession, which Focus acquired out of TIFF for around $15 million, stars Michael Johnston as a young man who has long been in love with a friend Nikki (played by Inde Navarrette), and hopes that she will one day feel the same. But disastrous consequences ensue when he buys a One Wish Willow, which promises its users it will grant one wish upon splitting it in half, and wishes for his friend to love him. Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless and Andy Richter also star.
Focus is releasing the film in 2,542 locations on North America, which includes 435 large-format screens, many of them premium. James Harris, Haley Nicole Johnson, Christian Mercuri, and Roman Viaris produced alongside Blumhouse’s Jason Blum, who serves as an executive producer with Leonora Darby, Mark Lane, David Haring and Ruzanna Kegeyan.
Focus leaned heavily into the film’s digital marketing campaign, including selling out a replica of One Wish Willows. The product sold out within hours, and the in-world commercial has amassed more than 4.4M views on YouTube alone. Thousands of fans have also been engaging with Nikki’s increasingly obsessive, unsettling texts, voice notes and special deliveries after encountering cryptic billboards across Los Angeles and New York, each featuring her obsessive messages alongside a phone number inviting them to reach out.
Obsession sparked heated interest among buyers when premiering at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival, with Focus prevailing over Neon and A24 for rights, with parent company Universal Pictures coming board to handle the pic overseas.
Ahead of the the film’s release, Focus announced it has re-teamed with Barker and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster on Barker’s next film Anything But Ghosts, alongside Spooky Pictures and Divide/Conquer. He is also slated to direct A24’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
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