Obsession Passed A Box Office Milestone Only 5 Horror Movies Ever Have

Even though "Obsession" has been available to watch via streaming and VOD for some time now, it's still managing to break box office records. Thanks largely to a still surprisingly strong showing in several international markets, director Curry Barker's horror sensation has crossed the $500 million mark worldwide. With that, it joins a very exclusive club within cinema's most reliable genre.

As of this writing, "Obsession" has made $501.5 million worldwide. It now overtakes "The Conjuring: Last Rites" ($499.2 million worldwide), which dethroned "The Nun" as the biggest box office hit in The Conjuring Universe last year, to become the fifth-biggest horror movie of all time globally. At the same time, it's now one of only five horror movies in history to make at least $500 million. To be clear, we're talking pure horror movies here, not movies like "Jurassic Park" or "Godzilla" that are monster movies that are more horror-adjacent rather than straight-up horror.

The rest of the top five includes "World War Z" ($540 million), "I Am Legend" ($585.5 million), "The Sixth Sense" ($672.8 million), and Stephen King's "It" ($719.7 million), the biggest horror hit ever.

"Obsession" centers on a hopeless romantic who breaks a mysterious "One Wish Willow" in order to win over his crush. He soon discovers that getting exactly what he wished for comes with grave consequences. The film's cast includes Michael Johnson, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter, and Inde Navarrette, who is now part of Marvel's new "X-Men" cast. She's become a true breakout star on the strength of her performance in a movie that is now a cultural phenomenon.

It simply can't be emphasized how phenomenal and unexpected this all is. "World War Z" overcame disaster to become the biggest zombie movie ever, but it also had Brad Pitt and a hulking budget in the $200 million range. The other horror movies on this list, for the most part, are part of big franchises and/or based on pre-existing material, such as "I Am Legend," which starred Will Smith and also had a huge budget. M. Night Shaymalan's "The Sixth Sense" is the big exception, but that's good company to be in.

Outside of the realm of horror, it's exceedingly hard to find a non-franchise movies that made $500 million or more in the 2020s. All told, there are only around a half dozen motion pictures not connected to a pre-existing franchise that have accomplished this, most of which were Chinese blockbusters such as "The Battle at Lake Changjin" ($902 million), which was the highest-grossing movie of 2021 until "Spider-Man: No Way Home" came along. It also got a sequel, so it's a franchise now. Outside of that? It's slim pickins.

Most recently, Apple's "F1" became the biggest original box office hit of 2025 with $634 million, but that also had Brad Pitt and the benefit of being set in the world of one of the most popular global sports. Pixar's "Elemental" got very close, falling just a few million short in 2023. That's pretty much it in terms of movies produced by Hollywood studios since 2020. 

That all serves to highlight just how insane this movie's success truly is. This sort of thing simply doesn't happen. Especially for a first-time feature director.

The success of "Obsession" has been very well documented. It cemented the new trend for horror at the box office, with YouTubers now becoming Hollywood sensations. "Backrooms" also went a long way in firming up that trend as well. The difference? Curry Barker made his movie for a mere $750,000, with Focus Features buying it for a reported $15 million after it hit the festival circuit. That has been money well spent, to put it very lightly.

Focus, Blumhouse, Barker, and just about all involved were caught off guard by the success. Barker became an overnight sensation, with studios courting him with big offers to get in on his next movie, whatever that may be. Barker is making very different horror movies next, with his next original "Anything But Ghosts" already in the can, labeled as more of a horror/comedy. He's also due to make a new "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie for A24.

This movie's success has been discussed often and ad nauseum, so much so that it's honestly hard to believe it has added yet another huge feather in a cap already lousy with feathers. What Barker and Focus have accomplished with this little horror movie that could is nothing shy of miraculous. Original cinema can still thrive under the right circumstances and, with any luck, studios will lean into that more in the coming years.

"Obsession" is in theaters and streaming now.