Theatergoers are madly in love with Obsession.

The buzzy new horror movie is the directorial debut of Curry Barker, a member of the Internet comedy duo “that’s a bad idea” who burst onto the genre scene with the hourlong 2024 short film Milk & Serial, which only cost $800. Produced in part by Blumhouse Productions, 2026’s Obsession follows a young man (Michael Johnston) who learns to be careful what he wishes for when his wish that his crush (Inde Navarrette) would love him is granted. The movie has been adored by both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, earning matching 94% scores on the Tomatometer and the Popcornmeter.

Per Variety, as of Saturday morning, Obsession is projected to earn a 3-day total of $14.5 million at the domestic box office by the end of its debut weekend. While this isn’t enough for it to debut any higher than No. 3 on the chart (behind the holdover hits The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Michael), it has already cemented itself as a solid hit, bursting past its initial expectations of a $9 to $10 million debut.

The reported budget of Obsession is only $1 million. Because mainstream releases often need to earn back two and a half times their budgets in order to turn a profit, this places the estimated break-even point of the 2026 horror movie somewhere around just $2.5 million. Therefore, in addition to earning 14 times its budget, Obsession has already earned more than quintuple its estimated break-even point over the course of a single weekend.

It ultimately remains to be seen how the Curry Barker movie performs by the end of its run. Horror titles have a habit of being frontloaded, with sizable week-on-week drops that can often hit 60% or more during their sophomore weekend. However, those stellar Obsession reviews could see it becoming a major word-of-mouth hit on top of its stellar opening weekend.

If its domestic multiplier ends up being similar to either of the well-reviewed 2025 original horror hits Weapons and Sinners, Obsession could ultimately end its run with a gross between $49 and $82 million at the domestic box office alone. However, even if it falls off the map immediately, it has already more than proven Curry Barker as a box office force to be reckoned with.

More to come…

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