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Obsession Becomes the Biggest Original Film of the 2020s After Three Month Box Office Run

The horror movie made on a $750,000 budget has now surpassed Pixar's Elemental to claim the record, cementing its place as one of the most profitable films ever made.

By Jeanpierre Florent · FirstDrop News TeamAug 18, 20263 min read

Obsession has set yet another box office record, and this one puts the horror film in a league almost entirely by itself in modern cinema.

The movie has surpassed Pixar's Elemental to become the biggest original film of the 2020s with $496 million at the worldwide box office. Original in this case means not a sequel, not an adaptation, and not a remake. It's a category that barely exists anymore at the top of the box office charts.

The film is still crawling along at the box office in various regions three full months after its release. It's been available to stream for a while now, but theaters in some markets are still playing it, and yesterday's box office take pushed it just over the threshold to claim the record.

How Rare Original Films Have Become

Looking at the top ten highest grossing films of the 2020s shows just how unusual Obsession's achievement really is. The rest of that list is made up of eight sequels and two adaptations of existing properties. Barbie could arguably be considered borderline original, but it's still based on an established toy brand with decades of cultural presence.

The pattern continues down the charts for quite a while before you reach Obsession and Elemental at the $496 million mark. That makes Obsession something genuinely rare in contemporary blockbuster filmmaking: a completely new story with no franchise history or source material that audiences showed up to see in massive numbers.

One of the Most Profitable Films Ever Made

The achievement becomes even more remarkable when you consider the budget. Obsession was made for $750,000, which makes it one of the most profitable films ever produced when measured by return on investment.

That combination of minuscule production costs and record breaking box office returns has already secured the film's place in cinema history. It's also the number three highest grossing R rated horror movie ever made, sitting behind only It and The Conjuring: Last Rites.

From Unknown to the MCU in Three Months

Obsession made headlines again this past week when its breakout star Inde Navarrette was announced as playing Rogue in the upcoming MCU X-Men movie. The casting represents a stunning career turn, going from an almost complete unknown to the star of a Marvel film in just three months.

Navarrette appears to have cheekily misled reporters after it was confirmed that she met with X-Men director Jake Schreier. When asked what role she'd like to play, she said Mystique. She was entirely outside the conversation about Cailee Spaeny and Odessa A'Zion competing for the role of Rogue, and it has not yet been confirmed that Mystique is even in the movie.

Running Out of Records to Break

Obsession has broken so many box office records at this point that it's becoming difficult to keep track of them all. The film has rewritten expectations for what horror can do at the box office, what original films can achieve in an era dominated by franchises, and what's possible with an ultra low budget production.

With this latest achievement secured, it's an open question whether there are any more milestones left for the film to reach. After three months in theaters and with streaming availability already established, the box office run will eventually wind down. But the impact of what Obsession has accomplished is likely to influence Hollywood decision making for years to come.

Written by Jeanpierre Florent, part of the FirstDrop News Team

Jeanpierre is the Southern California based creator behind JPLAND21, a theme park community of more than one million subscribers across YouTube and Instagram. Our reporting is grounded in regular firsthand park visits. More about us

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