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Every so often, a new horror movie comes along and turns the box office on its head. This year Obsession has become that movie everyone’s been talking about. What started as a low-budget swing by filmmaker Curry Barker has grown into one of the 2026 movie calendar’s wildest theatrical stories, the kind of breakout that makes everyone in Hollywood suddenly look to YouTube filmmakers for the next big thing. Well, the guys behind Obsession have a one-word response to their flick blowing past box-office expectations.
In a recent Hollywood Reporter interview, Cooper Tomlinson, Curry Barker’s That’s a Bad Idea YouTube channel partner and Obsession cast member, was asked if he had run out of ways to describe how insane watching Obsession’s box-office win was. And he had landed on a one word:
Yeah, the word that comes to mind now is grateful. Obsession has been such an electric experience for all of us, and there’s just been so much love, positivity and support. I’m really happy.
That is a pretty grounded answer for a movie that has done something very ungrounded. Obsession was not some obvious studio juggernaut. According to reports, the movie was produced for $750,000, premiered at TIFF, triggered a bidding war and was acquired by Focus Features for $15 million. That is already the kind of journey filmmakers dream about before the theatrical release even happens. Then the movie actually opened, and the story got much bigger.
Obsession was not born of a polished studio development process; rather, the idea was sparked after Barker watched an episode of The Simpsons before his guest appearance on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The next morning, he told Tomlinson he had an idea for a “be-careful-what-you-wish-for” story, and the whole thing moved quickly from there.
That kind of origin story makes the box office run feel even more surreal. One minute it is a strange idea between friends, and then a few years later Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg have reportedly seen the movie, audiences are turning Tomlinson’s trivia-night character into a meme, and Hollywood is suddenly paying close attention to the guys from That’s a Bad Idea.
There is also something satisfying about the fact that Tomlinson and Barker already have their next project lined up. The pair have shot Anything But Ghosts, a supernatural horror-comedy for Focus that exists in the same universe as Obsession and co-stars Aaron Paul. Tomlinson described working with Paul as a full-circle moment, since he and Barker once literally bumped into the Breaking Bad star at a screening of El Camino years before making a movie with him.
Obsession is not just a hit of the moment but one of the best horror movies of recent memory. It is also proof that a pair of filmmakers can build their own audience, sharpen their instincts online and then walk into the theatrical space with something that actually moves people. So, yes, “grateful” is probably the right word.
The other word might be “ready,” because after this, many more people will be watching what Barker and Tomlinson do next. But, for now, they can check out Obsession, which is still playing in theaters.
