Focus FeaturesOnce the dust settles, three of the biggest winners at the 2026 box office will be Iron Lung, Backrooms, and Obsession. The horror genre has experienced a surge of new blood, and surprisingly, this year’s spotlight has shone on three internet creatives who broke out of digital media and into indie filmmaking — Markiplier, Kane Parsons, and Curry Barker. Each has made a sizeable stack of cash in their theatrical runs (Iron Lung with $51 million, Backrooms with $160 million, and Obsession at almost $300 million), which means the future looks bright for the creatives behind each one.In Barker's case, Obsession has already opened up some big opportunities. His next movie, Anything but Ghosts (described as a buddy-comedy haunting story set in the same world as his recent hit), has already wrapped filming, and he’s slated to direct a remake of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for A24. Beyond that, the world of genre film seems to be Barker’s oyster, and at some point, he’ll almost certainly return to the same wishing well that put him on the map.As if he snapped Obsession’s magical trinket himself, Curry Barker has become an overnight Hollywood sensation. | Focus FeaturesIn a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter that covers everything from Obsession’s relative overnight success to the advice he’s been getting from more established horror filmmakers like Zach Cregger and Fede Álvarez, Barker let it slip that he has “such a cool idea” for a sequel to his theatrical debut, but that it probably won’t happen for a while. It makes sense that both studios and the audience reaction already have the 26-year-old thinking about a follow-up — Obsession is the highest-grossing festival acquisition of all time.As Barker has discussed in the press, there are many different directions another installment could go. The film’s simple yet effective premise — a young man whose dreams of romance turn into a nightmare when he wishes for his crush to love him more than anyone — already introduces a versatile narrative randomizer with the concept of the One-Wish Willow. One of the movie’s most inventive and memorable sequences sees another character use the Willow for an incredibly literal and lucrative purpose, giving us a glimpse at the wonky and unpredictable nature of Barker’s conception of the supernatural. It can give you either the most literal interpretation of your words, or it can bend them to reveal the more horrific parts of yourself. While it’s highly unlikely that an Obsession sequel would revisit the aftermath of poor Nikki’s tragedy, whatever comes next will certainly be another nightmarish Monkey’s Paw scenario, whether that’s another twisted tale of love and autonomy or a wish-induced obsession of a different kind. After all, what’s scarier than getting exactly what we want?Obsession is currently in theaters.