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How an indie horror film became a box-office ‘Obsession’

Nbcwashington · 🇺🇸 public United States · · 616 words · By Saba Hamedy; Greg Rosenstein; NBC News
Success of Digital Creators in Traditional Media Box Office Performance
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Curry Barker, a 26-year-old YouTuber-turned-filmmaker, made his horror film “Obsession” in just 20 days on a mere $750,000 budget.

Claims checked 13
Techniques found 1
Topics 2

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Right coverage
Left17%
Center83%
Right0%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Curry Barker, a 26-year-old YouTuber-turned-filmmaker, made his horror film “Obsession” in just 20 days on a mere $750,000 budget.

Why it matters

Now, after its second weekend in theaters, the Focus Features-distributed movie is on track to earn more than 100 times that amount, with an expected $79.7 million haul at the global box office, according to Box Office Mojo, which tracks global theatrical…

Common ground

Of that projected total, $58.5 million came from North American theaters.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.nbcwashington.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/obsession-movie-b…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 13 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6
verified Verified By Reference 3
schedule Pending 3
help Insufficient Evidence 1
verified
Claim 1: “Focus Features is a unit of NBC News’ parent corporation, Comcast.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and official company descriptions confirm Focus Features is owned by Comcast as a unit of Universal Pictures/NBCUniversal.
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web search NEUTRAL — Focus Features LLC is an American independent film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as a unit of Universal Pictures, which is itself a ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_Features
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web search NEUTRAL — Focus Features is part of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of ...
https://www.focusfeatures.com/about
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web search NEUTRAL — Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast through Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned ...
https://nine.fandom.com/wiki/Focus_Features
help
Claim 2: “After “Obsession” made its festival debut... Focus ultimately acquiring it for $15 million.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding the specific $15 million acquisition price by Focus Features.
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Claim 3: “Before the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival in September, Barker was primarily known on YouTube, where he built an audience with projects like “Milk and Serial,” a thriller”
CORROBORATED
Web search results and YouTube titles confirm Curry Barker's project 'Milk and Serial' exists as a thriller/horror project prior to the film's success.
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web search NEUTRAL — About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbzGQ1lszv4
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web search NEUTRAL — Curry Barker, a 26-year-old YouTuber-turned-filmmaker, made his horror film “Obsession” in just 20 days on a mere $750,000 budget.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/obsessi…
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web search NEUTRAL — 266.7K Likes, 1180 Comments. TikTok video from ebba (@isuperebba): "The incredible story of Curry Barker and Obsession, the greatest horror film of the year.
https://www.tiktok.com/discover/curry-barker-milk-and-cereal
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Claim 4: “Of that projected total, $58.5 million came from North American theaters.”
CORROBORATED
Three separate web search results explicitly state the film generated $58.5 million in North America.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The British colonization of the Americas is the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by England, Scotland, and, after 1707, Great Britain…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_colonization_of_the_Am…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the peoples who are native to the Americas or the Western Hemisphere. Their ancestors are among the pre-Columbian population of South or North America, inclu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Amer…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Cari…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 5: “On the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has amassed a 95% fresh “Tomatometer” score from critics and a 94% hot “Popcornmeter” score from audiences.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
verified
Claim 6: ““Iron Lung” — a self-financed indie video game adaptation from Mark Fischbach, better known online as Markiplier — became a major box office success following its February rollout”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and other sources confirm Mark Fischbach (Markiplier) wrote, directed, and self-financed the film 'Iron Lung' based on the game.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Markiplier, who had previously played Iron Lung on his YouTube channel, stated it would be self-written, self-financed, and star himself alongside Kaplan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Lung_(film)
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jan 9, 2026 · MOVIE NEWS “Iron Lung” is a sci-fi horror film written, directed, and self-financed by YouTuber Mark Fischbach (Markiplier), adapted from David ...
https://www.facebook.com/cameocinemas/posts/if-you-shout-lou…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Rating 6.5/10(20,245)Iron Lung: Directed by Mark Fischbach. With Mark Fischbach, Caroline Kaplan ... Iron Lung is a great movie that Markiplier does a great job with it.Missing: self- financed
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt27564844/
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Claim 7: ““Backrooms,” an A24 movie from 20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons, is also looking at a big opening weekend.”
CORROBORATED
Wikipedia and A24's Instagram confirm Kane Parsons is a 20-year-old director working with A24 on 'Backrooms'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Backrooms is a semi-anthological web series created by American YouTuber and filmmaker Kane Parsons. An adaptation of the "Backrooms" creepypasta, the series primarily revolves around Async, a fiction…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backrooms_(web_series)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kane Parsons (born 2005 or 2006), known online as Kane Pixels, is a visual effects artist best known for his videos of the web series Backrooms based on the online fiction of the same name. In January…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_Parsons
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Backrooms are a fictional location originating from a 2019 4chan thread. One of the best known examples of the liminal space aesthetic, the Backrooms are usually portrayed as an impossibly large e…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 8: “He has another film, titled “Anything But Ghosts,” in the works”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
verified
Claim 9: “The movie, which stars Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette, is a romance-horror”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia (Obsession soundtrack) explicitly confirms the film stars Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette.
schedule
Claim 10: “A24 recently tapped him to helm a reimagining of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.””
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
check_circle
Claim 11: “Jason Blum, who was an executive producer on the film... wrote Sunday on X. “Obsession is the ONLY wide-release horror film on record to grow in its second weekend at this scale — $22.4M, up 30% over opening,””
CORROBORATED
Multiple web sources quote Jason Blum's statement on X regarding the $22.4M second weekend and the 30% increase over the opening.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Anything but Ghosts is an upcoming American supernatural horror film directed by Curry Barker and written by Barker and Cooper Tomlinson. The film stars Aaron Paul, Bryce Dallas Howard, Curry Barker, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anything_but_Ghosts
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Blumhouse Productions, LLC, doing business as Blumhouse (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH), is an American independent film and television production company founded on September 30, 2000 b…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blumhouse_Productions
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Jason Ferus Blum (; born February 20, 1969) is an American producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, best known for horror franchises including Paranormal Activity (2007–2021), Ins…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Blum
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 12: “the Focus Features-distributed movie is on track to earn more than 100 times that amount, with an expected $79.7 million haul at the global box office, according to Box Office Mojo”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including NBC News and Forbes, report the global box office projection/haul of $79.7 million according to Box Office Mojo.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Box Office Mojo is an American-operated website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which in …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_Office_Mojo
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In the film and media industry, if a film released in theatres fails to break even by a large amount, it is considered a box-office bomb (or box-office flop), thus losing money for the distributor, st…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_biggest_box-office_bom…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Films generate income from several revenue streams, including theatrical exhibition, home video, television broadcast rights, and merchandising. However, theatrical box-office earnings are the primary…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 13: “Curry Barker, a 26-year-old YouTuber-turned-filmmaker, made his horror film “Obsession” in just 20 days on a mere $750,000 budget.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web sources (NBC News and other reports) confirm Curry Barker is a 26-year-old filmmaker who made 'Obsession' in 20 days on a $750,000 budget.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Curry Barker (born September 22, 1999) is an American filmmaker, comedian, and actor. He is generally known for his online sketch comedy in "that's a bad idea" alongside his collaborator Cooper Tomlin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry_Barker
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Obsession is a 2025 American supernatural horror film written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker. The film follows Bear (played by Michael Johnston), a music store employee who buys a supernatural …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsession_(2025_film)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Obsession (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2026 film of the same name directed by Curry Barker, and starring Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette. The soundtrack acc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsession_(soundtrack)
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.