Curry Baker’s supernatural horror film Obsession, starring lesser known Hollywood faces, has already emerged as the success story of 2026. The film, made on a modest budget which falls somewhere between $750,000 (Rs 7.14 crore) and $1 million (Rs 9.50 crore), has earned ten times its budget across three weeks since its release on May 15. It’s now amassed $108.80 million (Rs 102.60 crore) at the worldwide box office.Obsession premiered first at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last year in the Midnight Madness section. Within a month, it was acquired by Focus Features for $14 million to $15 million, the highest price commanded by a genre film in the history of the film festival. When it was scheduled to release in cinemas on May 15 this year, trade experts estimates it’d land somewhere between the $8 million and $10 million mark during the opening weekend in the US and Canada.However, much to the surprise of trade pundits, Obsession scored $7 million on its opening day itself. The film went on to earn $17.2 million over its opening weekend, landing at the third position in the top 10 grossers of that weekend. It held its own in front of formidable holdover films like Michael, Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic, and The Devil Wears Prada 2, David Frankel’s workplace dramedy sequel, starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt.Obsession, which released in Indian cinemas two weeks after its US release, has also been faring well here. Distributed by Universal Pictures in the country, it opened at Rs 1.75 crore from 859 shows on Friday, scoring 34% occupancy. The film saw a minor increase in its collection on Saturday, as it earned Rs 2.75 crore from 1151 shows, and registering 48% occupancy. Given the increasing buzz and the current trajectory, this figure is likely to go even higher on Sunday, its third day at the Indian box office.In comparison, the Bollywood release of the week, Manish Saini’s kids’ fantasy film The Great Grand Superhero, headlined by Jackie Shroff, earned only Rs 75 lakh within the first two days at the box office. Obsession, on the other hand, has minted Rs 5.40 crore gross and Rs 4.50 crore net within the same period in India.Box office records broken by ObsessionObsession has scored the highest second-weekend increase at the North America box office outside of Christmas since 1982, as per The Hollywood Reporter. Scoring $24 million over its second weekend, it registered an unprecedented 39% increase from its opening weekend of $17.2 million. With an estimated $28.5 million, it’s likely to increase over its third weekend by 19% from its second weekend box office collection.Obsession has also become Focus Features’ highest grossing movie of all time in North America with its over $106.80 million domestic haul so far. It’s surpassed the $97 million mark of Michael Engler’s 2019 period drama Downton Abbey, a film based on the seminal television show of the same name, created by Julian Fellowes, who also wrote the screenplay of the film extension.Story continues below this adObsession has also become the first horror film since Oren Peli’s 2007 cult horror flick Paranormal Activity to earn over 10 times its budget at the worldwide box office. That film, made on a budget of $15,000, went on to amass $194.20 million at the worldwide box office. It also spawned a successful franchise, including seven more films, with Paranormal Activity 8 slated to release in cinemas on May 21 next year. Obsession director Curry Barker is a 26-year-old YouTuber.Who is Curry Barker?Obsession, starring Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston, has grown tremendously thanks to word-of-mouth, with 75% of its audience belonging to the 18-34 young adult demographic. They’ve struck a chord with the vision and sensibility of the director, 26-year-old YouTuber Curry Barker. He first gained popularity for his sketch comedy YouTube channel “That’s a bad idea” alongside collaborator Cooper Tomlinson.Influenced deeply by Marcus Nispel’s 2003 cult slasher movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he referred to his YouTube channel as his and New York Film Academy’s fellow student Tomlinson’s “film school outside of film school.” His 2024 directorial debut, found footage horror film Milk & Serial, made on a budget of $800, became a viral sensation after being made available to watch on YouTube for free.After his sophomore directorial Obsession became the first-runner up for the People’s Choice Award: Midnight Madness honour at TIFF last year, it was not only acquired by Focus Features, but also supported by horror veteran Jason Blum, who became an Executive Producer on the film with his banner Blumhouse Productions.Story continues below this adAlso Read — Spider-Noir review: Nicolas Cage plays Spider-Man with Batman jadedness, Wolverine traumaBlumhouse Productions and Focus Features is also co-producing Curry Barker’s next horror film, Anything but Ghosts, starring Aaron Paul, which is set in the same fictional universe as Obsession. Life’s come full circle for Barker, as he’ll also helm a reimagining of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the 10th instalment in the popular franchise, backed by A24.