A robust global distribution roll-out and eye-catching activations coupled with passionate fan engagement around YouTuber Curry Barker’s Obsession have driven Focus Features’ highest-grossing release to $342m at the global box office with more to come.
At time of writing the horror tale of a smitten young man who takes the ill-fated decision to use a novelty toy to catch the eye of his crush stood at $125.4m through all international markets, of which $95.6m comes through Universal Pictures International (UPI), and $217.2m from Focus Features in North America.
This week the summer smash overtook the $118.5m international box office of 2025 Oscar-winning Weapons. International territory highlights include $20.8m in the UK, where Obsession ranks as the highest 18-rated release of all time and the seventh-biggest Hollywood horror release; $14.8m in the Middle East, where it has become the biggest Hollywood horror release ever; and $9.6m in India, which has delivered the second biggest Hollywood horror release of all time.
Niels Swinkels, the Los Angeles-based EVP and managing director of Universal Pictures International (UPI) and president of international distribution at Focus Features, was not at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) when Barker’s $750,000 debut feature brought the house down at its Midnight Madness world premiere.
“The team on the ground quickly brought me into the conversation,” Swinkels tells Screen. He screened the film in Los Angeles and immediately saw the potential. “It’s such a wild film and we wanted to be a part of it.” Focus closed a deal for approximately $14m for most of the world and the executive got to work.
“We knew [the film’s potential] from the reactions in Toronto and subsequent festival screenings. We took it to Sitges [for the international premiere in October 2025], where it won a special jury award and Grand People’s Choice Award, and we took it to other genre film festivals in about 15 countries. You could see the audience excitement.”
Festival screenings this year prior to release took in SXSW and Overlook Film Festival in the US, Monsters of Film in Sweden, Night Visions Film Festival in Finland, and Fantasy Filmfest Nights in Germany.
Swinkels continues, “I didn’t know then that it was going do over $300m, but we knew we had something special. The audience participation was ultimately what would turn them into marketers for the film. When you have something uniquely strong, where the word of mouth leads to conversation, anticipation, and fear of missing out, that dictates a release pattern.
“We knew that there was going to be this level of anticipation on opening weekend, so we had a number of markets go with domestic, day-and-date and a number go a week or two weeks later, with the rest following from there. You start with the more obvious horror markets.”
Audience engagement
Obsession opened in North America on $17.2m on 2,615 sites over the May 15-17 weekend. It also arrived in UK & Ireland on $1.8m from 482; Italy on $703,000 from 243; Mexico on $519,000; and Brazil.
Barker’s film also opened in Australia and France through Rialto and Le Pacte, respectively, following separate deals through producer Christian Mercuri’s sales agency Capstone Global. Capstone Pictures produced with Blumhouse Atomic Monster.
To stoke up further excitement, the studio hosted university screenings in Sao Paulo, Brazil, among other locales; hosted tastemaker events at FrightFest in the UK and Morbido in Mexico; ran cryptic billboard campaigns; and engaged the horror community at cinemas with Nikki lookalike cinema staff dressed as the female lead played by Inde Navarrette (opposite Michael Johnston), shrine interactive photo opportunities, bathroom sticky notes for guests to write their confessions, cat claw machines, and one wish willow merchandise.
As audiences became obsessed with the new release, it became the first film since E.T. back in 1985 to increase its box office over the second and third weekends in North America. Momentum was also building internationally, fuelled by avid word of mouth, a roughly equal male-female split, a predominant 18-34 age bracket, and repeat viewings that propel releases to box-office heights.
Obsession demonstrated remarkable legs in the UK, surging by more than 21% and 22% respectively in its third and fourth sessions. International box office was increasing too and climbed 35% in its third weekend in UPI markets and growing by 101% in its third go-round in Mexico, where audiences frequently reward horror films. The running total there currently stands at $7.9m.
Middle East, India success
The film has opened uncensored in all its markets so far and Middle East and India are among the pleasant surprises that Swinkels and his team have enjoyed watching. “Horror can work there,” the executive says, adding that the result is a stand-out because the film is so intense. “It’s a region where people like action movies generally, but some of the more risqué content [that gets released] does not always translate. This one particularly just struck a chord and it’s the same with India. We couldn’t get to these records without these performances.”
Swinkels, who joined Universal in 2004, will not speculate how far Obsession can go but does note: “Universal Pictures International expects the film to have a release in every global market.” The word in the distribution community is the film could reach $400m worldwide given that there are four major markets to come. It opens this weekend in Germany (June 25) and Spain (June 26), with debuts in Japan and South Korea scheduled for July 17 and September 2, respectively.
The executive says, “The pattern that we saw in the markets where we went first is that we went out on a robust number of screens, but that grew based on sell-outs and occupancy rates.” He continues, “That also means that by the time you roll out and open in later markets, the film is already a proven success and so you can go wider. For instance with Spain and Germany coming up, we would probably start wider that we did with those earlier markets, relatively speaking.”
Heatwaves in the UK and continental Europe have helped, driving audiences into air-conditioned auditoriums. And Swinkels says the ongoing FIFA World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico has not had a discernable impact on attendance.
“The World Cup is an interesting case because whenever a country plays it may have an impact [on attendance] that night depending on the time zone, but our data shows that it seems to compensate itself,” he notes.
“We don’t necessarily think it’s a detractor. There could be some ebbs and flows on a weekday, much like the weather, but it evens out over the long term […] And of course the deeper you go in the tournament and teams start to drop out there are fewer games and fewer territories [involved].”
As Swinkels prepares for the imminent release of Minions & Monsters and the mid-July launch of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Obsession remains very much on his mind. “With this word of mouth the play-out pattern for this movie is so unique. Every Monday morning, when we reflect on the weekend, we’re adjusting our numbers. This story is not over yet.”
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