The biggest box office story this week is Backrooms from A24 and director Kane Parsons, which recently recorded the biggest opening weekend ever for an original horror movie. However, it is not the only horror film making headlines as the summer movie season continues.
Director Curry Barker’s horror film Obsession is also enjoying a remarkable run at the box office. Despite facing strong competition from Backrooms, the movie continues to attract audiences. In fact, during its third weekend in U.S. theaters, Obsession earned more money than it did during both its opening and second weekends.
The film opened with $17 million in its first weekend. Instead of seeing the usual drop in ticket sales, Obsession increased its earnings and brought in $23 million during its second weekend. Such growth from one weekend to the next is extremely rare in the film industry.
Its success continued in the third weekend, with the movie earning an even bigger $26.4 million. The latest numbers pushed Obsession past the $100 million mark at the domestic box office. Globally, the film has now collected an impressive $148 million.
According to box office tracking company Exhibitor Relations Co., Obsession has become Focus Features’ highest-grossing film ever at the domestic box office. The company also noted that, outside of the Christmas season, Obsession is the first movie since 1982 to increase its earnings during both its second and third weekends in theaters.
The last film to achieve that milestone was Steven Spielberg’s classic sci-fi movie E.T.
This weekend, Backrooms and Obsession secured the top two positions at the domestic box office. Both horror films outperformed the big-budget Star Wars release The Mandalorian and Grogu.
The result gives Blumhouse-Atomic Monster the number one and number two movies in the United States at the same time, with two original horror projects. Backrooms is distributed by A24, while Obsession is being released through Focus Features.
Another major achievement for Obsession is its budget-to-box-office performance. The movie is now the lowest-budgeted horror film to reach the top spot at the North American box office since Paranormal Activity in 2009, the film that helped launch Blumhouse as a major horror studio.
Obsession was produced on a budget of only $750,000. Focus Features later acquired the movie for a reported $15 million. With its current box office earnings, the film has already generated huge profits and continues to perform strongly in theaters.
Industry observers say there are currently no signs of the movie slowing down, making it one of the most surprising success stories of the year.
Fans are also waiting to learn when Obsession will become available for digital purchase and rental at home.
In Curry Barker’s feature directorial debut, Obsession follows a hopeless romantic who breaks the mysterious One Wish Willow in an attempt to win the heart of his crush. His wish comes true, but he soon realizes that getting exactly what he wanted comes with a dark and dangerous cost.
