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Hollywood typically requires lots of bucks to make a huge splash at the box office. They spend millions of dollars for CGI, and on star pay and huge marketing campaigns that saturate every billboard from New York to Los Angeles. However, a very small, independent horror film called Obsession blew the rules in May 2026 when it comes theatrically.
It’s a very low budget film. It cost just $750,000 to produce. But, it only took a few days into the theaters for its worldwide sales to reach $80 million.
This is an astounding story of mathematics. This is a profit return of more than 10,000 percent. The film not only survived with the blockbusters of summer, it actually out-competed them on the weekdays. It’s outperforming big productions such as the Michael Jackson biopic Michael, The Devil Wears Prada 2, which was the sequel to a massive studio film of the same name, and the video game action film Mortal Kombat II.
A Creepy Toy, and a Terrible Wish
The plot of Obsession is uncomplicated, crude and profoundly uncomfortable. Curry Barker is an indie filmmaker, and was the writer, director and editor of the film, which he originally filmed for YouTube in the form of short eerie comedy-horror videos. Barker’s approach to scaring was anything but the monster effects or high-tech graphics. He exploited a very primitive human fear.
The narrative is an individual, somewhat lonely, young man (played by Michael Johnston) named Bear. Bear lives in his late grandmother’s house, and works at a quiet music store. He is having a crush on his best friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette). Since he fears to express his feelings to her, he seeks an easy way out.
Bear finds an old, strange object called the One Wish Willow. He cracks it and hopes that Nikki will fall in love with him.
The wish is fulfilled to the hilt, but the consequences are terrifying. Nikki falls in love with him. But the magic has taken control of her completely, leaving her free from her own body and mind. The movie becomes a very sad, dark tragedy of personal boundaries, unhealthy lust and what happens when consent is completely removed by a supernatural power. Teens in movie theaters have reportedly been shaken and disturbed after watching the grim portrayal of their relationship.
Let’s Rock ‘n’ Roll – The Weird Second Weekend Jump
It originally screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was released worldwide in 2,615 cinemas in North America by distributors Blumhouse and Atomic Monster on May 15, 2026.
Obsession grossed a respectable $16.1 million domestically on both of its opening weekends. That’s a big deal for a $350,000 film. Typically, horror films lose steam the second weekend. It opens on the first three days and on day four, the ticket sales drop 50 or 60 percent. That’s the typical format of the genre.
Obsession did just the reverse.
The rumour mill went into overdrive over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Instead of dropping, the ticket sales went up drastically. The movie grossed an estimated $22.4 million during its second weekend in the United States and Canada. Its total domestic sales soon reached $58.5 million. Adding the $21 million it recovered from overseas international territories not in North America, it was right in the middle of the $80 million.
Shooting a 17-year Box Office Record.Shattering a 17-year Box Office Record!
In a very long time, no movie has taken over the movie theatre charts for all this little money. In fact, industry analysts have noted that Obsession is the lowest-budget movie to debut at the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office since Paranormal Activity in 2009. The movie cost $15k to make and grossed $193 million.
The $750,000 cost of Obsession was more than the cost of Paranormal Activity, but it is still a small price to pay in today’s Hollywood. An average TV ad for a major studio film can run to the price of the entire budget for Barker’s film.
The movie is now eyeing the $100 million milestone. If it does, it will be among a very small group of films that cost less than a million dollars to make, and still gross more than a hundred million worldwide, including The Blair Witch Project.
Bad News for High Budget Competitors
When you consider the big movies debuting in theaters next door to this insane profit-making little horror film, it makes one’s head spin even more.
Michael has grossed a whopping $788 million domestically and globally. But that’s a very expensive film to produce and promote. It pays off about $5 times its costs.It pays off about 5 times its cost. Scifi films are performing pretty well, having grossed around $675 million, just a bit more than three times the studio’s budget for Project Hail Mary.
Obsession virtually had no marketing budget at all. It took a lot of young people talking online, a lot of videos on TikTok and a lot of real horror fans telling their friends that the movie was actually really scary to really hone its message. The film received a 95% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes from the film critics, and an A- minus score from the average theater-going audience on CinemaScore, which is quite unusual for a dark horror film.
The film continues to roll out around the world. It will be released in theatres in India on 29th May 2026. Despite the competition of some major independent horror titles on the horizon, such as the much-anticipated Backrooms from A24, the success of Obsession is already assured.
