Horror hit Obsession is on track to become one of the most profitable films of all time
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Inde Navarrette (left) and Michael Johnston in Obsession.
PHOTO: UIP
- Obsession, a low-budget horror film by first-time director Curry Barker, has earned over US$400 (S$516 million) million worldwide, becoming the most profitable film relative to its US$750,000–1 million budget.
- The film's success highlights a growing trend of young social media creators moving into cinema, with horror films appealing strongly to Gen Z audiences.
- Barker, once working low-wage jobs, now has multiple projects lined up, including directing a new Texas Chain Saw Massacre and acting in his second feature, Anything But Ghosts.
AI generated
PARIS – Low-cost horror movie Obsession from first-time director Curry Barker is on track to become one of the most profitable films of all time, with the cinema sensation piling up global revenues of more than US$400 million (S$516 million).
After premiering at the Toronto Film Festival in 2025 and releasing at the beginning of May 2026, it has become a word-of-mouth phenomenon over the last two months with fright-loving Gen Z audiences in particular.
Its success has catapulted 26-year-old Barker from a YouTube video creator into Hollywood’s A-league with a first feature-length film that cost just US$750,000 to US$1 million to make.
“In terms of the ratio between the worldwide box office and the production budget, Obsession is going to be the biggest success of all time, which is extraordinary,” said Bruce Nash, founder of industry-tracking website The Numbers.
With ticket sales of around US$430 million worldwide, it has already overtaken the 1999 supernatural thriller The Blair Witch Project, which made around US$250 million on a full budget of US$600,000, according to Nash.
In absolute terms, Hollywood mega-hits such as the Avatar films (2009 to present), Frozen (2013) or Titanic (1997) made more money but with blockbuster budgets several hundred times the one available to Barker.
Burgers to big screen
The Alabama-born writer-director’s success at the box office has surpassed that of the other remarkable horror hit of 2026 – Backrooms by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, which has earned US$360 million with a budget of around US$10 million.
Both films are in the top 10 highest-grossing movies of 2026, underlining the appetite for horror among young audiences and starting what is set to be a new trend – young social media creators moving into cinema.
Director Curry Barker on the set of Obsession.
PHOTO: UIP
“They’re very encouraging for the future of cinema,” Oscar-winning writer-director Christopher Nolan told AFP and other entertainment journalists recently in Paris.
Barker moved from his home town of Mobile to Los Angeles after finishing high school, initially studying film and hoping to make it as an actor.
A few years ago, he was flipping burgers in Los Angeles, working at Starbucks, and taking whatever jobs he could find in the film or TV industry to make ends meet.
The blonde-haired sunglasses collector scored a minor role in the sitcom It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (2005 to present) and took a position overseeing Covid-19 safety protocols during the pandemic on another production.
All the while, he and creative partner Cooper Tomlinson were trialling content online, mixing comedy sketches on TikTok and Instagram with horror shorts such as The Chair on their YouTube channel That’s A Bad Idea.
“In that journey, you figure out timing, you figure out tricks like how to get someone’s attention in the first three seconds,” Barker told The Big Picture podcast recently.
Next projects
The Obsession plot is a simple but original idea from Barker: a young man (Michael Johnston) uses a lucky charm known as the One Wish Willow to wish that his long-time friend and crush (Inde Navarrette) falls madly in love with him.
The violent and unsettling consequences deliver enough scares to thrill even a hardened horror fan, while raising questions around toxic relationships, dating culture and consent.
It was turned into a cash bonanza for Focus Features, part of Hollywood studio Universal, which bought the distribution rights for US$15 million at the Toronto Film Festival in 2025.
Barker has several new projects already in the pipeline: a second feature, Anything But Ghosts, in which he acts alongside Tomlinson, while he has also been tapped to direct a new version of the 1974 slasher classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
“I have a lot to weigh and that’s where the stress really comes from. I don’t know what to do next,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. AFP
