Horror Film Obsession Already Looks Like a Box Office Success

The upcoming supernatural horror movie Obsession, the first major film from YouTube star Curry Barker, is already on the path of becoming a box office hit. Some might know Curry for his sketch-comedy YouTube channel “that’s a bad idea” where he has over 1 million followers or his surprise horror movie Milk & Serial that was posted on the channel in 2024 and has earned more than 2.3 million views. His work on the platform impressed horror producers enough that he was given the opportunity to write and direct his first feature film, Obsession, which follows music store employee Bear (Michael Johnston) who uses a toy to wish that his friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette) would fall in love with him. Slated to release on May 15, 2026 in the US, this Focus Features and Blumhouse Productions film has already received rave reviews and positive box office predictions.

First feature film from YouTube’s Curry Barker is getting great box office predictions

Curry Barker’s Obsession is projected to earn around $7 million, more specifically in the range of $5 million to $15 million, in its domestic opening weekend from May 15 to May 17. Over its full theatrical run in the US and Canada, it’s expected to earn $18 million, or somewhere between $10 million and $43 million.

These numbers comes from a late April report from analytics site BoxOfficeTheory. This box office prediction is more optimistic than the $4 million to $6 million range from a mid-April BoxOffice Pro forecast on the film’s domestic opener. That said, Obsession is trending upward, as the site’s latest projections on April 24 have raised its projections to a range of $5 million to $8 million.

From the outset, these projections might seem low and comparable to two other films that are also releasing on May 15. For their domestic openers, BoxOfficeTheory predicts the action flick In the Grey to bring in $6 million to $11 million, while the revenge movie Is God Is has a $4 million to $7.5 million projection. And we should not forget that Obsession is sandwiched between two major blockbusters in a very busy May calendar: Mortal Kombat 2 releasing on May 8 and Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu that comes out on May 22.

However, the production budget for Obsession is extraordinarily low at a mere $1 million, per The Hollywood Reporter. That means that the film only needs to cross the $2.5 million mark at the box office to be a success, and this threshold could be even lower given that the general rule that a movie needs to make 2.5 times its budget to break even is meant more for blockbusters. At any rate, the projections for the movie already have it being a box office hit in just its first weekend.

The movie can be compared to another box office success this year, the horror film Iron Lung, which was directed and written by YouTube’s Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach. Releasing on January 30, that film had a mere budget of $3 million, yet passed the $50 million mark worldwide, as reported by Box Office Mojo.

Much of the momentum behind Obsession comes from its audience support and stellar reviews. Obsession’s official teaser trailer released in December 2025 has received over 7 million views so far. As of April 28, the film has received an outstanding 96% rating from critics based on 50 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Several sites and channels dedicated to the horror genre, such as HorrorBuzz and YouTube’s spookastronauts, have given the film a perfect score. The movie received recognition last year when it premiered during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival in September, where it earned the first runner-up prize for the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award.

With these positive reactions, it’s no surprise that Curry Barker has been hired by A24 to write and direct the upcoming reboot for Glen Powell’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Source: Comingsoon.net