Curry Barker’s directorial debut Obsession pulled in $16.1 million at the North American box office over the May 15–17 weekend — more than sixteen times its $1 million production budget, and well above the industry’s $9–12 million projections. The film landed in third place on the domestic chart, behind Michael ($26 million in its fourth weekend) and The Devil Wears Prada 2. Overseas markets, handled by Universal, added another $7 million, putting the worldwide three-day total at $23.1 million.
The film played in 2,615 US theaters, scored an A− CinemaScore from audiences, and currently holds a remarkable 94% on Rotten Tomatoes from both critics and viewers — the kind of rare alignment that usually signals serious long-leg potential heading into the Memorial Day weekend.
Focus Features acquired the distribution rights for $14 million out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, edging out A24 and Neon in a heated bidding war. With this weekend’s international take added in, the studio has already recouped the entire acquisition cost in three days. The R-rated horror was co-produced with Blumhouse, and represents Blumhouse’s biggest opener since Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. It is also Focus Features’ strongest opening of 2026.
Demographically, opening crowds skewed 59% male and 40% in the 25–34 age bracket — exactly the Gen Z and younger-millennial audience that isn’t turning out for The Devil Wears Prada 2 or Michael. Barker’s next film, Anything But Ghosts, starring Aaron Paul, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Violet McGraw, is currently in post-production with Focus and Blumhouse again attached. A24, meanwhile, has handed Barker the keys to a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre reimagining.
Obsession grossed $6.97 million on Friday alone (including $2.6 million from Thursday-night previews), good for the fourth-best horror opening of 2026, behind only Scream 7, Send Help, and Iron Lung. For comparison, Focus and Blumhouse’s last collaboration — B.J. Novak’s Vengeance (2022) — opened to $1.7 million and finished its domestic run at $4.3 million. Obsession cleared more than ten times that total in a single weekend.