A small horror movie is currently taking on the big film studios and doing so quite successfully. But before it even hit theaters, the director had to decline generous offers.
Which movie is it about? Obsession is the horror hit of 2026. The film is not only the debut of director Curry Barker (26), it is also doing quite well. With an estimated budget of no more than 15 million US dollars (the numbers are difficult to determine according to The Guardian, depending on what is counted), the film has already grossed over 297 million US dollars.
That’s quite a lot, especially for a director’s first feature film. Curry Barker, who is part of Gen Z himself, managed to beat brands like He-Man and Star Wars at the box office and according to The Economist, 75% of the viewers of Obsession were between 18 and 25 years old.
When Barker wanted to sell his film to the studios, they wanted to rewrite his film, but despite a high amount, Barker refused.
2 million dollars to completely change the main character
What was offered to Barker? In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Barker spoke about the negotiations with the film studios. When they tried to sell Obsession to them, there were offers from companies that allegedly offered him 2 million US dollars to rewrite the script. Specifically, it was about turning the protagonist Bear into a hero.
Barker says:
I thought to myself: “I’m not going to rewrite the script to make Bear a guy who always does everything right. It’s much more interesting that he doesn’t do the right thing but instead tries to make [the relationship] work, while just making one bad decision after another.” The film would have been so boring if Bear had gone on a journey to explore the story of the “One Wish Willow.” So I turned down more money to tell the story that I was more interested in.
Considering that Barker is not a well-known director, it’s already a risk to decline such an offer. However, the film has benefited quite a bit from Barker telling exactly the story he wanted.
What does MeinMMO film editor Nikolas Hernes say about Barker’s decision? Obsession is crafted quite well, but especially the theme and the subtext make the horror film so effective. It’s about toxic masculinity and the ego.
This makes the film so relatable, especially for Gen Z, which is confronted with it a lot. If Bear had been turned into a hero who has to survive a torture, it wouldn’t have worked.
Obsession doesn’t just scare; the film functions on an emotional level. The cliché that horror movie characters make stupid decisions is used in the film to create more than just misunderstanding, and that is the great art of Obsession.
Have you seen Obsession yet and how did you find the film and the main character Bear? Feel free to write us your opinion in the comments. MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes was also thrilled by the small horror hit: A small horror film finally teaches me to be afraid in the cinema again, belongs to the scariest things I have ever seen
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