From UK to India to Mexico and Saudi Arabia, moviegoers are transfixed by Nikki and Bear’s toxic relationship as Focus Features/Blumhouse’s Obsession now counts a running global cume of $286.5M.
That arguably makes it the highest grossing movie to ever be picked up at a film festival (that is after being auctioned post premiere; not a market package ala when Paramount acquired Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival out of Cannes), beating Blair Witch Project‘s reported final global of $248.6M. That found footage horror pic was acquired out of Sundance 1999 for $1M+ by Artisan.
As we first told you, Focus Features picked up the Capstone $750K financed Obsession for $15M+ out of TIFF Midnight (North American and some foreign territories). For quite some time post Covid, film festival pick-ups have been sluggish (though foreign films do sell at Cannes) with the yields at the box office often lower than the frenzied, ratcheted up auction prices. Let the record show that Obsession provides hope to such fest marketplaces, not to mention it underscores how genre movies are the best bang for their buck.
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Stateside at $19M, the Curry Barker directed, Indie Navarrette, Michael Johnston, Cooper Tomlinson starring horror romance saw its fourth consecutive weekend (out of five) best its opening frame ($17.1M). The pic’s running cume of $188.3M is pacing 7% ahead of 1999’s summer breakout spooky movie, The Sixth Sense; that Oscar nominated movie finaling at $293.5M domestic.
In addition, Obsession bested the global cume of Blumhouse and Universal’s Oscar winning Get Out which finale at $259.9M. Why comp to that? Because that’s another horror movie made at a thrifty price, that being $4.5M, and which launched a directing career out of a canon, that being Jordan Peele’s. While Obsession has bested Star Wars: Mandalorian and Grogu‘s domestic take of $165M, Nikki and Bear have yet to shoot down the bounty hunter and baby Yoda’s space ship around the globe, that $165M net production now at a global running cume of $315.1M.
Broken down, Obsession made $34.1M in its fifth global weekend (international 59 territories was $15.1M; of that Universal’s markets minted $11.8M, non-Uni markets were $3.3M). Overall foreign cume is $98.1M (Uni territories $77.4M, non-Uni is $20.6M).
TheUK & Irelandenjoyed another outstanding hold this weekend at No.3 in the market with $2M; Disclosure Day taking the top spot there. The Barker movie is now the highest-grossing 18-rated Horror of all-time. The weekend dropped an exceptional -20%, despite good weather after a week of rain, with all other holdover films collectively dropping -64%. The cume has now surpassed the lifetimes ofGet Out,Smile,Weapons,andNosferatu,becoming theseventh-biggest Horror of all-time. The weekend totaled $2.0M to reach $17.7M cume.
Obsession remains the No. 1 Hollywood pic in India currently with $1.8M this weekend for an $8M cume, ahead of the lifetimes of Horror tentpolesThe Nun,The Nun 2, Annabelle Creation, andFinal Destination Bloodlinesto become thethird biggest horror film of all-timein the market.
Themovie ranked as No. 1 in U.A.E. and No.2 in Saudi Arabia behind local hit7 Dogs. The weekend totaled $1.6M overall in the Middle East region to reach $12.4M cume as thesecond-biggest horror film there.
Mexico’s $1M comes with both the World Cup and Disclosure Day invading the country, a -20% hold for a No. 5 rank his weekend. The $6.8M cume has now surpassed the lifetimes ofInvisible ManandScream VI.
ThePhilippinessaw a +97% uplift in Wknd 3, adding $500K to reach $1.3M cume, surpassing the lifetimes ofM3GANandWeapons.
Israelalso held in weekend 3, -4% with $500K and a $1.8M running total, besting the lifetimes ofAnnabelle Creation,The Nun,Happy Death Day, andSmile 2.
Nikki and Bear were No. 2 in theNetherlandswith $400K and a $3.2M total, that cume ahead of such lifetimes as WeaponsandSmile 2since last weekend and is on track to overtakeSinnerstoday.
It’s fair to say for many around the globe, cat sandwich never tasted so good.
| Top Weekend Holdovers | |||||
| Territory | Wk # | Locations | Wknd | Drop | Cume (in millions) |
| UK & Ireland | 5 | 527 | $2.048 | -20% | $17.697 |
| India | 3 | 647 | $1.772 | -18% | $7.958 |
| Mexico | 5 | 459 | $1.037 | -20% | $6.847 |
| U.A.E. | 4 | 59 | $755K | -26% | $4.619 |
| Saudi Arabia | 4 | 59 | $641K | -32% | $4.530 |
| Philippines | 3 | 113 | $522K | +97% | $1.275 |
| Israel | 3 | 33 | $509K | -4% | $1.824 |
| Netherlands | 5 | 99 | $434K | -19% | $3.191 |
| Italy | 5 | 226 | $391K | -27% | $4.676 |
| Poland | 5 | 127 | $329K | -25% | $2.823 |
| Turkey | 5 | 117 | $318K | +54% | $1.325 |
| Norway | 4 | 48 | $267K | +51% | $1.403 |
| Argentina | 5 | 50 | $254K | -2% | $1.217 |
| Others Middle East | 4 | 13 | $227K | -64% | $3.210 |
| Belgium | 5 | 39 | $225K | -17% | $1.272 |