A critical darling at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025, Curry Barker’s horror movie Obsession has been scaring audiences on the big screen since its release on May 15, 2026. In the movie, Michael Johnston’s Bear buys a supernatural toy, One Wish Willow, and wishes for his childhood friend Nikki to fall in love with him. However, his desire for Nikki’s love comes at a deadly cost.
| Obsession (2026) | Details |
| Director & Writer | Curry Barker |
| Cast | Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, and Andy Richter |
| Release Date (U.S.) | May 15, 2026 |
| Distributed by | Focus Features |
| Box Office (As of May 25, 2026) | $79.8 million (via Box Office Mojo) |
| RT Score (As of May 25, 2026) | 95% | 95% |
| IMDb Score (As of May 25, 2026) | 8.2/10 |
Barker, Johnston, and Inde Navarrette (who plays Nikki) are all lesser-known names to fans, but they have brilliantly executed the film’s uniquely gripping horror plot. Obsession has exceeded all expectations and grossed $79.8 million at the box office against a budget of less than a million dollars in just a week and a half (as of May 25, 2026). Here’s how the movie scored big despite being a relatively unknown entry.
1. Obsession‘s Strong Word-of-Mouth Brought People to Theaters
Obsession‘s strong word-of-mouth is signaled by the movie’s rare box office achievement in its second weekend. After an impressive $17.2 million debut in its opening weekend, the movie has surprisingly surpassed it in the second weekend. As of Sunday, the movie has earned $22 million in weekend numbers, and the number is projected to go higher for the entire Memorial Day weekend (via Forbes). It is a stellar record, especially for a horror movie, as they often see the biggest decline after opening weekend.
2. Obsession Worked for the Younger Demographic
The enthusiasm for this movie from the audience is high, especially among those in the younger demographic. According to Deadline, 39% of weekend ticket sales were from those under 25, while the 25-34 demographic also represented 39% of the turnout. The younger cast members of the movie, including breakout performer Inde Navarrette, could be the reason for this younger demographic crowd for the movie.
The RT, IMDb, and CinemaScore gradings were a surprise for a horror movie, as audiences tend to leave lower grades after their disturbing theatrical experience. The movie scored 95% audience score on RT, an 8.2 on IMDb (as of May 25, 2026), and an ‘A-‘ grade on CinemaScore, which are all really impressive numbers.
3. The Movie’s ‘One Wish Willows’ Marketing
At the center of the movie is a store-bought supernatural item, One Wish Willow, which brings scary consequences to its wish maker. Focus Features went on a creative marketing campaign to build hype for the movie, and one of their moves was to bring One Wish Willow to life. They created a website that had a viral 30-second commercial and sold the item at $6.99. It was sold out immediately. Ahead of the movie’s release, the item was made available in a specialty store and themed vending machines across Los Angeles.
The product gained major traction on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where creators posted videos with the toys they bought. The studio’s campaign also included custom voice notes from Navarrette’s Nikki on the messaging platform Community and interactive billboards in New York and Los Angeles. Focus Features’ decision to launch the indie movie in 2000 theaters nationwide also turned out to be a bold and smart one.
4. The Role of YouTuber-Turned-Director Curry Barker
For a long time, YouTube was considered to be a major threat to the theater-going experience. However, the success of movies like Obsession, helmed by Curry Barker, who found success on YouTube, has challenged this notion. Earlier, Markiplier’s movie, Iron Lung, achieved major theatrical success, earning above $51 million against a $3 million budget (via The Numbers). Kane Parsons is also being given the big screen platform for Backrooms, coming out next week. It appears that they owe these box office numbers to their audiences from the small screen.
5. Audience Always Welcomes Original Movies Like Obsession
The horror genre has spawned several franchises/movie series, which reused the same formula for every other movie. The viewers became familiar with every horror movie trope out there and eventually got tired of them. It is one of the biggest reasons why any horror movie in theaters is approached with a certain skepticism.
However, original movies like Obsession, which deal in fresh concepts and young blood, have proved that audiences still accept well-made horror movies. The hit movies in the genre in the last few years, including M3GAN, Barbarian, Longlegs, Talk to Me, and Weapons, have all contributed to this shift from formulaic narratives to original stories.
What do you think of the theatrical success of Obsession? Let us know in the comments below!
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