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Though movies like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Michael may have made the most money at the box office this year, the biggest story of 2026 is the runaway success of the indie horror hit, Obsession. Produced on a budget of $750k, the film from Curry Barker is on its way toward a $300 million global haul at the box office, quickly becoming the biggest actual hit of the year but also one of the biggest horror movies of all time. It’s an astonishing feat and a true word-of-mouth sensation with box office returns that continue to baffle experts, and a brand new voice for the genre having made a mark on pop culture.
There’s just one problem with any kind of horror movie that makes a splash like this, though, especially one that counts Jason Blum and his Blumhouse production banner as one of its executive producers: sequels. To his credit, Barker has not been shy, even before Obsession was a box office hit, that he had ideas for how the premise could continue in some form. Now, speaking in a new interview, Barker opened up about the potential for Obsession 2, confirming that he does have “a cool idea” for what a sequel to the film would be, but noted that fans will have to wait before they get to see it.
Obsession 2 Gets First Real Update (But There Will Be a Wait)
In a new profile with The Hollywood Reporter, Barker touched on the idea of a sequel, specifically saying: “I don’t want to go straight into Obsession 2. I have such a cool idea for it that I won’t say. I’m not saying it has to be five, six years from now. But I think people would be just as excited for it if it came a little down the road. It’s a whirlwind and I’m trying to figure it out.”
To his credit, Barker is right; his calendar is filling up fast. Though his next movie has already been filming, the upcoming Anything but Ghosts, which stars Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard, he’s already lining up more projects, including another reboot of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Reports have also circulated that studios eager to get in the Curry Barker business have been offering him carte blanche deals. As a result, time may force Barker to not leap into Obsession 2, meaning that a wait is mandatory.
Furthermore, Barker’s schedule building anticipation for an Obsession sequel could actually be the key ingredient. As much as fans (and film studios) want to immediately capitalize on the success of a movie with sequels and franchising, sometimes waiting can actually make audiences more eager. Having a sequel debut a year later may have been the blueprint for the likes of Saw and Paranormal Activity, but audiences quickly got tired of them, and they faltered like balloons with no air. Patience is the key for major sequels, though it is possible to wait too long.
It’s worth noting that the bones of Obsession lend it to becoming a franchise quite easily. Central to the story is the “One Wish Willow,” an object that allows the user to get one wish. In a classic Monkey’s Paw, though, the wording is key to the wish, with the way Bear wishes for Nikki Freeman to fall in love with him in Obsession giving way to the entirety of the film. As a result, the One Wish Willow can easily become the bones for countless stories that are told in the same universe, even if they’re not direct sequels to the larger narrative of the original movie.
A big question, though, is how audiences might react to a sequel to Obsession that has all-new characters and doesn’t actually pick up from the narrative pieces of the first movie’s ending. History has told us that sequels like this are not well received, but that’s a flexible thing for horror movies, which can often sell themselves on the franchise’s premise and not what familiar faces are back for more. The good news for fans is that Barker is clearly already thinking about the future of the series, and not rushing to make it the only thing he has to offer as a filmmaker.
5 Upcoming Movies That Could be The Next Obsession or Backrooms
