Obsession has broken yet another box office record, one set before filmmaker Curry Barker was in grade school.
With $225.5 million globally, the horror hit is now the top-grossing festival acquisition title of all time, beating Michael Moore‘s political doc Fahrenheit 9/11, which grossed $222 million worldwide in 2004.
Focus landed Obsession out of the Toronto Film Festival, with the studio beating out competitors such as Neon and A24 for around $15 million after about 24 hours of dealmaking.
Though the film had played strong in Toronto, nobody knew it would become a box office phenomenon and catapult Barker to becoming a top Hollywood filmmaker. The feature earned more money in its second and third weekends than its first, an accomplishment not seen since 1982’s E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. In weekend four, it declined just 7 percent, topping 2019’s Downton Abbey to become Focus’ top-grossing movie of all time globally.
As for Fahrenheit 9/11, it bowed at Cannes in May 2004 and won the Palme d’Or. Miramax made the feature, critical of the George W. Bush administration and its justification for the invasion of Iraq, but then-owners Disney refused to release the controversial film, with founders Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein purchasing the movie themselves, and later partnering with Lionsgate and IFC on its release. For a time, it also stood as Lionsgate’s top movie of all time, before being dethroned by The Hunger Games.
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