Will the Oscars Be Obsessed With ‘Obsession’?
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- "Obsession" posted $19 million in its fifth weekend and has grossed $265 million worldwide — the highest-grossing release in Focus Features history, with four consecutive weekends exceeding its $17 million debut, a trajectory the source calls almost unheard of in the modern theatrical era
- Focus Features is planning a full-court Oscar campaign for the film, per studio sources, and the source positions the play as a sequel to Jordan Peele's 2017 "Get Out" path, which took a $4.5 million first-time director horror movie to four Oscar nominations and a best original screenplay win
- Inde Navarrette anchors the film in a breakout turn as Nikki built through collaboration with Barker, with screams and contortions done without CGI or AI; a best actress nomination would make the 25-year-old Tucson-born actress — to an Australian mother and Mexican father — the youngest Latina performer ever recognized in an Oscar acting category and the seventh Latina best actress nominee ever
- Curry Barker would be 27 by nomination morning, placing him behind only John Singleton (24 for "Boyz n the Hood") and Orson Welles (26 for "Citizen Kane") among the youngest best director nominees in Oscar history, if the first-time YouTube filmmaker lands the nod
- The 98th Academy Awards delivered horror's strongest showing ever with eight wins, led by Ryan Coogler's "Sinners" at a record 16 nominations and 4 wins, and Amy Madigan's first-televised award for "Weapons"
- The source argues the film should submit in the comedy category at the Golden Globes, citing its awkward humor, while positioning it for the Oscars' dramatic categories
Why it matters: For Focus Features, a $265 million specialty-label hit that wasn't acquired or manufactured as prestige is a brand redefinition: the studio now has a commercial phenomenon with a star-making performance, a director whose YouTube origin is a campaign asset, and everything to gain by pushing for nominations. The honest counterweight the source itself flags: horror's Oscar winners — "Jaws," "Silence of the Lambs," "Sinners" — have all needed a blend of genres or an auteur stamp, and pure genre hits with massive box office have historically been dismissed as commercial rather than artistic.
