days before “Obsession” will be released in theaters, its 26-year-old director, Curry Barker, He made a bet with his manager and agent: If the movie made more than $20 million on its release, everyone would get tattoos. It was just below, with 17 million dollars. Still, they were delighted.
Barker made the horror film for just $750,000. It was a huge success. But then something unexpected happened.
The following weekend, “Obsession” easily surpassed 20 million. And then he did it again and again, and almost a fourth time—an almost unheard of stay on the billboard.
“It was like, Wow, I didn’t think that was an option,” Barker says. “Now we’ve said that if it reaches $300 million, we’ll all get the tattoo. We had to set another goal, and I think we’ll reach it.”
Over the past month, “Obsession” has shaken up Hollywood. Barker’s thriller has raised 286 million dollars all over the world, and is still going. In its fifth weekend in theaters, it was surpassed only by Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day,” with $19 million.
In North America, it has grossed more than “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.” It is the biggest success in the 24 years of existence of Focus Features, which has had to postpone the video release. It ranks among the most profitable films ever made.
Barker, who built a fan base making sketches and short films on YouTube, is living every aspiring filmmaker’s dream.
Life, he admits in a recent interview, is different now. “My day to day life is practically the same. Only when I go out in public, it’s very different,” he says with a laugh. “In fact, sometimes I feel a little insecure.”
It’s an ironic turn for someone whose version of a “Monkey Paw” story has scared viewers. In “Obsession,” Bear Bailey (Michael Johnston) makes a wish on an antique toy called One Wish Willow so that his crush, Nikki (Inde Navarrette), will love him. The spell — inspired by an old episode of “The Simpsons” — works eerily well.
American director Curry Barker on the set of the film “Obsession.”
The amazing success of “Obsession” has been the subject of intense debate throughout the industry. Along with A24’s hit “Backrooms,” by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, it has marked YouTube as a hotbed for the next generation of filmmakers.
It has also brought waves of Gen Z moviegoers to the movies, who already make up a promisingly strong percentage of frequent ticket buyers. The summer has historically been dominated by long-running franchises, but “Obsession” could represent a change.
“If there’s a lesson from ‘Obsession,’ I think it has to do with the audience,” says Peter Kujawski, president of Focus Features.
“We have a generation that grew up on the internet, approaches culture with enormous curiosity and playful spirit, and is not so much concerned about where a filmmaker comes from, but rather whether the story connects. They are involved, have great cinematic knowledge, and are eager to support new voices and original stories.”
From YouTube to cinema
Barker, who grew up in Mobile, Alabama, before moving to Los Angeles at age 18, says he feels like he’s writing for his generation. The response to “Obsession,” he maintains, connects with a collective need.
“I get it because I think we’re a little tired of being at home. Our generation is the COVID generation,” Barker explains. “I was lucky enough to live through the full four years of high school. My brother, Riley, missed two years of that. We’re sick of phones.”
Barker wanted to be an actor before being a filmmaker. And while his early exposure to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” at age 11, helped set him on the path to horror, it didn’t start there.
“As a kid I was a huge Harry Potter fan. Huge. I was obsessed,” Barker says, smiling. “I had all the wands. I dressed up.”
Barker attended film school in Los Angeles for a year, where he met Cooper Tomlinson, co-star and producer of “Obsession.” However, the two soon forged their own path on YouTube and TikTok. His comedy sketch series, “That’s a Bad Idea,” found a home on the internet.
Barker wrote and directed the 2023 short film “The Chair,” which attracted the interest of Tea Shop Productions. Producer James Harris approached Barker about a feature film based on “The Chair,” but he instead wanted to make a film — “Obsession” — that revisited many of the same ideas. Meanwhile, Barker also made an $800 horror movie, “Milk & Serial.” After failing to get distribution, he simply uploaded it to YouTube. It went viral and got him an agent.
“Obsession” was selected to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, giving it an enviable platform. After a bidding war, Kujawski and Focus acquired it for $15 million.
“What stands out about Curry is that he doesn’t work from an inherited manual,” says Kujawski. “Even in his earlier work or ‘Obsession,’ there is a coherence of vision and a confidence in his storytelling that immediately sets him apart.
He knows exactly what he wants to say, while being absolutely committed to making every minute of his job as entertaining as possible, and willing to take real risks in the service of that vision.”
VIDEO. “Obsession.” Trailer.
Barker’s rise has made him the face of a new breed of filmmaker: someone who has honed their craft as a digital creator and arrives with an already established fan base.
Jason Blum, CEO of Blumhouse Productions, has compared Barker and company to the wave of American auteurs of the 1970s, “making bold films that are connecting in theaters in an incredible way.”
“If you stop to look at it with perspective, my journey is not that different from that of Christopher Nolan or David Fincher or Steven Spielberg,” says Barker. “You can see their early short films and their work before they were given a chance. I think YouTube is just an avenue, a platform that we can now use to show the industry what we have.”
Now, Barker is one of the most sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood. He has already filmed his next feature film, “Anything But Ghosts,” starring Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard, for Blumhouse.
Two months ago, A24 announced that it will write and direct a remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
All the attention has required a period of adaptation. Filmmakers like Ari Aster and Zach Cregger, and even Spielberg, have been in touch to congratulate Barker on his film.
“That’s when you start to feel that imposter syndrome, like, ‘What? She’s not that good,'” Barker says with a laugh. “The only thing I see when I watch ‘Obsession’ are the problems.”
A sequel to “Obsession” is, naturally, a certainty. “A sequel is not difficult for this film,” Barker concedes.
It outlines how new wishes from other characters in One Wish Willows could lead to completely different stories, each revolving around another vice: greed, fame, whatever.
But as tempting as it is to see “Obsession” as the product of Barker’s own desire, it’s more like the opposite. In the film, Bear’s deep mistake is putting off confessing his feelings to Nikki, thinking there is plenty of time to do so. (The film immediately cuts to a dead cat.) Barker, on the other hand, was not shy about making his dreams come true. He wanted to make movies, so he made them.
“Anyone who asks me what advice I have for young filmmakers, I always say the same thing,” says Barker. “I went to film school for a year in Los Angeles and I watched people become paralyzed by the pressure of: I’ve told people I’m a director, so now I have to direct something that has to be good. If it’s not good, everyone’s going to judge me. The result of that way of thinking is two years on a single short film.”
“You can’t put too much pressure on an idea,” adds Barker. “You just have to do it.”
