PARIS – Low-cost horror movie Obsession from first-time director Curry Barker is on track to become one of the most profitable films of all time, with the cinema sensation piling up global revenues of more than US$400 million (S$516 million).

After premiering at the Toronto Film Festival in 2025 and releasing at the beginning of May 2026, it has become a word-of-mouth phenomenon over the last two months with fright-loving Gen Z audiences in particular.

Its success has catapulted 26-year-old Barker from a YouTube video creator into Hollywood’s A-league with a first feature-length film that cost just US$750,000 to US$1 million to make.

“In terms of the ratio between the worldwide box office and the production budget, Obsession is going to be the biggest success of all time, which is extraordinary,” Bruce Nash, founder of industry-tracking website The Numbers, told AFP.

With ticket sales of around US$430 million worldwide, it has already overtaken the 1999 supernatural thriller The Blair Witch Project, which made around US$250 million on a full budget of US$600,000, according to Nash.

In absolute terms, Hollywood mega-hits such as the Avatar films, Frozen or Titanic made more money but with blockbuster budgets several hundred times the one available to Barker.

Burgers to big screen

The Alabama-born director’s success at the box office has surpassed that of the other remarkable horror hit of 2026 – Backrooms by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, which has earned US$360 million with a budget of around US$10 million.

Both films are in the top 10 highest-grossi...