Focus Features’ record-smashing horror hit “Obsession” has finished its run in U.S. theaters. But thanks to its continued success overseas, it has now crossed $500 million at the global box office, becoming the first original film of the 2020s to do so.
Curry Barker’s disturbing tale of a woman forced to become an obsessive, murderous girlfriend by a man’s selfish wish has passed the 2023 Pixar film “Elemental,” which grossed $494.6 million globally, to become the top grossing original film since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Obsession” also stands as the highest grossing festival acquisition of all time and the highest grossing film ever with a budget of less than $1 million.
Opening to a domestic launch of just $17.1 million, “Obsession” became a massive hit with critics and moviegoers alike thanks in good part to Inde Navarrette’s star-making lead performance. Defying 21st century box office norms, “Obsession” went on to have higher weekend totals than its opening for the next month, not dropping below $17 million until its sixth weekend in theaters as it grossed $263.4 million domestically.
Overseas, “Obsession” just inched past the $500 million mark by adding $2.5 million from countries like China and Germany where the film hit theaters well after the mid-May U.S. release date. The film has earned $238.1 million overseas, including $29.7 million in China and $26.7 million in the United Kingdom, pushing it to $501.5 million worldwide with a release in South Korea still to come.
Thanks to the film’s success, Barker is already at work on his next horror film, “Anything but Ghosts,” a film he will star in alongside co-writer Cooper Tomlinson. The duo will play a pair of fraudulent paranormal investigators who are in way over their heads when they are faced with actual ghosts. Bryce Dallas Howard, Aaron Paul and Violet McGraw also star in the upcoming movie, which like “Obsession” will be released by Focus Features.
Meanwhile, Navarrette and “Obsession” co-star Michael Johnston are locking down major blockbuster roles, as Navarrette will play “X-Men” heroine Rogue in the Marvel Cinematic Universe while Johnston is in talks to join Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in Universal’s upcoming revival of “The Mummy.”
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