New Horror With 96 RT% Reaches Major Box Office Feat Unbroken Since Steven Spielberg’s E.T.

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The new horror film, aptly titled , has validated its premise with a remarkably successful theatrical run. It has recently achieved a rare accomplishment at the box office.

The horror film Obsession premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025 and was released in theaters on May 15th. Since then, it’s steadily gained popularity. In its third week, the film saw a rare 10% increase in ticket sales, making it the first movie to break box office trends since E.T. The Extraterrestrial in 1982.

Obsession Is an Unheard-of Box Hit

The new film Obsession, directed by Curry Barker, was a huge success in theaters. Made for just $750,000, it opened with $16 million domestically and actually increased its earnings by 30% in its second weekend, bringing in another $22.4 million. This kind of growth is unusual for movies, which typically see a decline in viewership after the opening weekend. Adding to its success, critics gave it a ‘Certified Fresh’ rating of 96%, and audiences overwhelmingly loved it, giving it a ‘Verified Hot’ score of 95%.

The movie Obsession continued to perform strongly, earning $26.4 million domestically during its third weekend – a 10% increase from the previous week. According to Focus, this is the first time a film has grown its audience for two weekends in a row outside of major holidays since Steven Spielberg’s classic science fiction film.

So far, Obsession has earned $106 million in the United States and Canada, and $148 million globally. This makes it Focus Features’ most successful domestic release, surpassing the $96.8 million earned by Downton Abbey in North America.

Horror movies are currently performing very well in theaters. The recent success of Obsession, which has topped the box office charts and surpassed predictions, is a great example of this.

The new film had a record-breaking opening weekend for A24, exceeding the numbers for Alex Garland’s Civil War. It’s also the biggest opening ever for a completely original horror movie. What’s more, the director, Kane Parsons, made history as the youngest person – at just 20 years old – to have a film reach the No. 1 spot at the box office.

This is a great moment for Blumhouse-Atomic Records. Horror producer Jason Blum shared on X that his company has the top two movies in the country this weekend, and both were made on very low budgets. He noted that theaters are full, making it an excellent time to be producing horror films.

Will Obsession Get a Sequel?

The success of both Obsession and Backrooms stems from their originality – neither film is part of an established franchise. While Backrooms draws inspiration from a YouTube series and a 4chan online story, it exists as a standalone film without any prequels or connections to a larger cinematic universe.

I’ve been thinking about movies lately, and it’s so cool to see things like Project Hail Mary do well. It really shows people are craving something new and original! And honestly, that’s probably a big reason horror movies keep killing it at the box office – they can be made without a huge budget. It got me wondering, though… do you think Obsession will get a sequel? I’m really hoping it does!

Clive Barker is already working on his next movie, titled Anything But Ghosts. While it won’t be a direct continuation of previous stories, Barker revealed a glimpse of the plot: a news report detailing a triple homicide committed by a woman will be featured.

Zach Cregger, known for his successful work on previous projects, approached his two recent films in a similar way. While promoting his Academy Award-winning short film, Weapons, he continued to expand the story’s world with a fresh, new narrative.

Obsession is playing in theaters.

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2026-05-31 21:18