It’s the summer horror film that has moviegoers hooked.
In “Obsession,” directed by Curry Barker, an awkward young guy wishes that his coworker would fall in love with him, and things quickly take a dark turn.
And now, with a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences are along for the ride.
“Obsession” is breaking records. Here’s what we know about the R-rated film’s early success.
‘Obsession’: Inde Navarrette lives to scare people after her breakout role
‘Obsession’ saw an uptick in ticket sales during its second week
Curry Barker, Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston attend the Los Angeles Special Screening of Focus Features’ “Obsession” at the Hollywood Legion Theater on May 11, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
“Obsession” saw a significant rise in interest, resulting in its box office performance exceeding its debut, a unique victory in the genre, according to executive producer and Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum.
“‘Obsession’ is the ONLY wide-release horror film on record to grow in its second weekend at this scale — $22.4M, up 30% over opening,” the Blumhouse founder said in an X post on May 24.
According to estimates from Comscore, the movie grossed even more in North America, landing at an 39% increase with 23.9 million.
As Bloody Disgusting and Variety reported, “Obsession” garnered $17.2 million from 2,615 cinemas during its opening weekend.
When did ‘Obession’ premiere?
The movie, which came out in theaters on May 15, premiered last fall at the Toronto Film Festival, and Focus Features bought it out of the fest. Blum joined months later.
“This doesn’t happen in horror,” Blum continued on X about the box office performance. “Grateful to Focus Features, Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, & Divide/Conquer for championing this movie from the start.”
Curry Barker attends the Los Angeles Special Screening of Focus Features’ “Obsession” at the Hollywood Legion Theater on May 11, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
Barker, who got his start on YouTube, executed “Obsession” with $750K in under a month, according to NBC News.
Barker previously spoke to USA TODAY about the approach to his films.
“My sensibilities are putting ordinary people in extraordinary situations, and pushing them past the boundaries of their comfort level,” he said. “I gravitate toward stories that ask the audience, what would you do in this situation?”
Watch ‘Obsession’ trailer
Contributing: Brian Truitt, USA TODAY
Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at tardrey@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Obsession’ is now a record-breaking horror film. What we know
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