Curry Barker’s “Obsession” has been one of the biggest talking points in the film industry in recent months. The tiny indie horror film, which carried a $750,000 budget, has dominated the box office to a historic degree.
As it currently stands, the film has made over $337 million at the box office, making it one of the most profitable movies ever. In a world where streaming has dominated, even big movies go to digital pretty quickly. Originally, “Obsession” was supposed to be available to stream on June 2. With its unprecedented box office run, Focus Features decided to push that date back.
Despite the fact that the film made $14.2 million in its sixth weekend being released, Focus Features has decided to budge.
‘Obsession’ Coming to Digital in June
GettyFocus Features could easily justify keeping “Obsession” in theaters for the foreseeable future. It simply keeps making money. However, putting the film on digital will also allow the film to find an even wider audience.
The studio announced that “Obsession” is set to be released digitally on June 30, 2026. Now, that doesn’t mean the film is going to be pulled from theaters anytime soon. As long as it still has an audience, Focus Features will keep it out there.
There’s no word on when it will hit a specific streaming platform. Considering Focus Features is a Universal company, “Obsession” will almost certainly be available on Peacock in the near future, but at first, you’ll have to rent or buy it on platforms like Prime Video or Apple TV.
‘Obsession’ Was Almost a Very Different Movie
Many articles and research papers will be written about why “Obsession” was a film that resonated with so many people. That said, it really just boils down to the fact that it’s an original movie with an exciting young cast and strong directorial vision.
Writer/director Curry Barker has been sharpening his skills by making shorts for YouTube for years, and that clearly paid off. A big reason the film works is because of the two leads. Inde Navarrette is a revelation as Nikki, and Michael Johnston plays the role of Bear perfectly.
However, things were almost very different. Cooper Tomlinson, who is Barker’s longtime creative partner and plays Ian in the film, revealed that Barker nearly took on the role of Bear.
“Curry definitely considered playing Bear at one point, but I left it up to him,” Tomlinson told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think the movie would’ve been great regardless, but he ended up just wanting to direct. He was able to make the best movie possible by being behind the camera and leading the ship. He didn’t have to think about being in front of the camera for his first big movie.”
For anybody familiar with Barker’s acting work on his “that’s a bad idea” YouTube channel, you would know that he is a much different performer than Johnston. As Tomlinson noted, “Obsession” could’ve still worked with Barker in the role of Bear, but it would be a very different movie.
