Focus Features
Since being released in movie theaters on May 15, Obsession has racked up over $230 million at the global box office and has a chance of crossing the $300M benchmark. Just this week, Obsession took back the #1 spot at the domestic box office, grossing $4.2 million on Monday to beat over Scary Movie‘s $4.1 million.
To put into context just how insane Obsession‘s box office run is, it made more money on its 25th day of release than Avengers: Endgame did on its 25th. Had director James Cameron not re-released Avatar in September 2022 ahead of the release of the sequel hitting theaters in December 2022, Avengers: Endgame would be the highest-grossing film ever made.
Capstone, the company that paid for Obsession, is set to get an approximately +6,500% return on investment
Obsession was produced for just $750,000 before being acquired by Focus Features for around $15 million after a show-stopping premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. According to reports, Capstone, the company that financed the film, is estimated to make $45M – $50M due to the box office success, and will be sharing with the creative team, including filmmaker Curry Barker.
With three production companies credited on the film, it’s unclear how much of the $750,000 came from Capstone. If it were $750K, however, the projected $50 million payout would result in a +6,567% ROI (return on investment)
“An original psychological thriller about a magical wish gone wrong, YouTuber-turned-Hollywood filmmaker Curry Barker’s Obsession was independently produced for just $750,000 by Under the Shell, Tea Shop Productions and Capstone Pictures. It premiered in the midnight section of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where it became one of the buzziest titles at the event and was acquired by Focus Features for $15 million.” [via The Wrap]
Among its box office records, Obsession had the biggest second-weekend increase for a film playing in more than 2,500 theaters outside of the Christmas season. In its third weekend, the film made $27.4 million, becoming the first wide release outside of the Christmas season since Steven Spielberg’s (ever heard of him) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) to increase its earnings for three consecutive weekends.
It now ranks as Focus Features’ highest-grossing film of all time, both domestically and globally, and is the top-grossing festival acquisition title of all time, beating Fahrenheit 9/11 ($222 million in 2004).