Michael Johnston in 'Obsession.' Focus Features /Courtesy Everett Collection Logo text The world is obsessed with Obsession. Curry Barker’s breakout horror hit has crossed $200 million globally, making it Focus Features‘ biggest movie of all time. It already was the studio’s biggest movie domestically of all time, where it stands at $151 million.
The news comes as Obsession dropped just 7 percent in its fourth weekend, with its $25.6 million setting a record for the best fourth weekend hold ever for a horror film, as well as the top fourth weekend ever for horror. The previous record holder on both counts was Blair Witch Project, which was down 9 percent in 1999 and earned $24.2 million in its fourth weekend, after being the first movie since 1982’s E.T.: The Extraterrestrial to increase in weekends two and three.
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When Focus acquired Obsession out of Toronto International Film Festival for around $15 million, no one could have known it would go on to be the Universal-owned specialty label’s top movie of all time, beating out the continuation of a beloved TV show (2019’s Downton Abbey, $193.3 million globally), a hit from its resident horror auteur Robert Eggers (Nosferatu, $181.8 million globally), a George Clooney/Brad Pitt Coen Brothers movie (Burn After Reading, $164.3 million globally) or a historical Oscar winner (Darkest Hour, $150.3 million globally).
Barker shot Obsession independently for $750,000 with a cast of unknowns. Before that, he was best known for the horror short The Chair, a found-footage movie Milk & Serial he posted to free for YouTube, as well as his sketch comedy channel That’s a Bad Idea, run with partner Dr Cooper Tomlinson. Obsession has catapulted him into A-list filmmaker territory and made him one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood.
He has already shot his follow-up movie, Anything But Ghosts, and is attached to helm a The Texas Chainsaw movie for A24.
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