JuicyTalk
Obsession must have wished for box office success on a One Wish Willow.
The buzzy new horror movie, which follows the violent fallout of a young man (Michael Johnston) wishing that his crush (Inde Navarette) would love him more than anyone else on the planet, is the directorial debut of YouTube sketch comedian Curry Barker. It debuted on the weekend of May 15 with a solid but otherwise unremarkable $17.2 million. However, it has quickly established itself as a major sleeper hit. During its sophomore weekend, 2026’s Obsession climbed 39.3%, giving it the smallest week 2 drop in history for a horror movie that opened in more than 2,000 theaters.
Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, Obsession is projected to earn a 3-day total of $28.5 million at the domestic box office by the end of the weekend. This sees it climbing an additional 19% during its third weekend, which is essentially unheard of for a wide release, especially one in the typically frontloaded horror genre. It will also be passing the $100 million domestic milestone this weekend, beating 2019’s Downton Abbey to become the highest-grossing Focus Features release in North America.
This rise is even more shocking considering the factors working against Obsession. For one thing, its sophomore weekend fell over the Memorial Day holiday, which should have seen it pulling in a much higher volume of moviegoers than a non-holiday frame like this weekend. Additionally, it is facing competition from A24’s Backrooms (another buzzy horror movie debut from a YouTuber, the 20-year-old Kane Parsons), which is expected to shatter records this weekend with the third-biggest domestic debut of the year so far, outgrossing the opening weekends of huge 2026 hits including Scream 7 and The Devil Wears Prada 2.
More to come…
Enjoy ScreenRant’s box office coverage? Click below to sign up for my weekly box office newsletter (make sure to check “Box Office” in your preferences) and get exclusive analysis, predictions, and more:
- Release Date
-
May 15, 2026
- Runtime
-
108 minutes
- Director
-
Curry Barker
- Writers
-
Curry Barker
- Producers
-
Christian Mercuri, James Harris, Roman Viaris, Haley Nicole Johnson
