Curry Barker teases Obsession sequel or anthology series despite plot hole

Curry Barker is already treating the loose end in Obsession less like a flaw than a franchise decision point. After the horror film opened in 2,615 theaters and earned $6.89 million on its first day, the writer-director said he is considering either a direct sequel or an anthology series, even as he acknowledged a plot hole that makes the movie feel “broken” for continuation purposes.

That tension sits at the center of Obsession’s rapid rise. The film premiered in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival on September 5, 2025, where it finished as the first runner-up for the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. Focus Features later set a U.S. theatrical release for May 15, 2026, and joined Blumhouse in the release campaign, giving Barker’s sophomore feature a much larger platform than the microbudget reach of his viral breakout, Milk & Serial.

Obsession follows Bear, played by Michael Johnston, a music-store employee whose wish for his crush Nikki, played by Inde Navarrette, to fall in love with him goes horribly wrong after he breaks the supernatural One Wish Willow. The premise turns a simple romantic fantasy into a violent spiral, with supporting roles from Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless and Andy Richter adding to the film’s escalating chaos.

Barker’s openness about the story’s structural problem points to a larger strategy now familiar in indie horror: turning an imperfection into an opportunity to expand the world. Rather than treating the ending as a dead end, Barker appears to be asking whether the same flaw that complicates a straight sequel could make an anthology approach more effective, preserving the unruly quality that helped the original stand out in the first place.

The film’s early box-office showing suggests that curiosity around that question is not limited to Barker. Early reporting projected a domestic opening weekend of about $14.5 million, a solid start for a title that began as a festival breakout and now sits at the intersection of fan intrigue, distributor confidence and a creator trying to decide how much of the original mystery should survive the next chapter.

Critical reaction has also helped elevate the conversation around the film. The Hollywood Reporter noted strong praise for Barker’s direction and Navavrette’s performance, with Navarrete being positioned as a breakout horror presence, a reminder that franchise talk here is being built on a film that first won attention for its craft, not just its twists.