Box Office: ‘Obsession’ Surpasses $400 Million Globally

“Obsession” has notched another major box office milestone, clearing $400 million in global ticket sales.

After two months in theaters, the indie horror breakout has grossed a remarkable $403 million, including $245 million domestically and $157 million overseas. The twisted romantic fantasy, directed by YouTuber Curry Barker, was produced for a mere $750,000 and acquired by Focus Features for $14 million at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, so “Obsession” has become a wildly profitable sensation.

Most films would taper off (or leave theaters altogether) after eight weekends of release. Not “Obsession,” which remained a draw over the July 4th holiday with $5.3 million domestically and $12 million internationally. It’s inching toward the $250 million mark in North America, a threshold that few films (arthouse or not) achieve in these challenging post-pandemic times.

The low-budget thriller opened in May with $17 million in North America, a very encouraging start for an original film. Then something remarkable happened: Ticket sales continued to rise, resulting in four consecutive weekends that were larger than its debut. 

Positive word-of-mouth and enthusiastic Gen Z audiences have fueled the turnout for “Obsession,” which follows a hopeless romantic named Bear (Michael Johnston) who makes a Faustian bargain to win the heart of his crush, Nikki (Inde Navarrette). “Obsession” and A24’s sleeper success “Backrooms,” another buzzy horror film, upended conventional wisdom that younger people weren’t all that interested in the big screen. It turns out, the TikTok generation wants to go to the movies, too. “Backrooms,” directed by YouTuber Kane Parsons, also caught fire at the box office with a stellar $347 million worldwide to date.

“There’s a new generation of moviegoers who are declaring a very specific taste for horror movies that is quite left-of-center,” Jason Blum, who produced “Obsession” and “Backrooms” through his company Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, told Variety earlier this summer. “There’s a lot of concern about theatrical, and this is a real new growth area.”