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Obsession filmmaker Curry Barker is fielding eight-figure preemptive offers for his next original feature, with one studio dangling $10 million sight unseen.
Hollywood has a new Curry Barker problem, and the problem is that everyone wants him. The YouTuber-turned-feature-director, riding the absurd second-weekend trajectory of his $750,000 horror hit Obsession, is already fielding eight-figure offers for a project he has not pitched yet.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the numbers. THR’s exclusive on the $10 million preemptive bid from a rival studio and the first-look clause that briefly paused it reports that one studio tried to lock Barker down sight unseen, only to retreat after learning that Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, the film’s production banner, holds right of first negotiation through its Universal first-look deal.
The math could climb. Industry sources tell the trade that a bidding contest between Universal, the would-be preemptive bidder, and a third interested studio could push the eventual deal toward $20 million.
The trigger was a Memorial Day weekend that broke a 33-year analyst’s brain. THR’s Comscore-cited breakdown of Obsession’s 39.4 percent second-weekend jump and unprecedented modern-era trajectory notes that the supernatural horror climbed to $23.9 million in its sophomore frame, an increase Paul Dergarabedian called “virtually unprecedented” outside of the Christmas window.
The film cost $750,000 to make. Focus Features paid $15 million for distribution rights out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, beating A24 and Neon in the process.
It now sits north of $70 million domestic and $90.2 million worldwide. Per Wikipedia’s running tally of Obsession’s worldwide gross and release-date specifics, the film premiered at TIFF on September 5, 2025, before its May 15 domestic theatrical release.
The film’s audience skews young. Three out of four ticket buyers are between 18 and 34, a Gen Z and younger-millennial bracket that has not turned out at this volume for non-tentpole horror in years.
Barker himself is already booked. He has shot Anything But Ghosts for Focus, co-written with collaborator Cooper Tomlinson, and is in post-production. He also recently closed a deal to write and direct Texas Chainsaw Massacre at A24.
The bidding war is part of a broader shift. Kane Parsons, another YouTube creator, has Backrooms tracking to open between $45 million and $50 million at A24, which would be the indie’s biggest debut ever.
Markiplier got there first this year. Mark Fischback, who goes by the YouTube handle, directed and self-financed Iron Lung, which made $50 million on a $3 million budget. Studio executives are recalibrating.
“The moment is here,” one studio head told THR. “YouTube is blessing these filmmakers and we are struggling to catch up. Right now, it’s about us not being second to the party.”
Barker could pitch the new project to Universal as early as this week. Reps for Universal, UTA, and Underground, both of whom represent Barker, did not return requests for comment.
The path from YouTube horror shorts to a $20 million blank check has rarely been shorter. The party is on; the question is which studio gets to host it.
