Focus Features is finalizing a deal north of $15 million to acquire Curry Barker’s horror feature Obsession out of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness lineup, marking one of the market’s first major buys and the swiftest escalation yet in the filmmaker’s rise from YouTube to studio distribution.
The film follows a music-store employee whose wish for his longtime crush invites a sinister enchantment, with Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette leading the cast. The acquisition, said to cover U.S. and some international territories, comes as the CAA Media Finance–repped title sparked early bidding after its TIFF bow.
Barker, 25, built a following through the That’s a Bad Idea channel before releasing the microbudget slasher Milk & Serial on YouTube; the 2024 project was reportedly made for approximately $800 and amassed more than 2 million views, a calling card that helped propel Obsession into the festival and sales arena. TIFF’s listing frames the feature as a love-wish gone wrong, positioning it squarely in the kind of high-concept, audience-friendly horror that studios have chased in recent years.
Deal chatter intensified during opening weekend at TIFF, with reports describing Focus as in “exclusive talks” for a price topping $15 million, a figure that would put Obsession among the festival’s pricier midnight acquisitions of recent cycles. International sales are being handled by Capstone, with the U.S. strategy expected to lean theatrical under Focus’s specialty playbook, though release timing wasn’t disclosed.
In parallel, Barker has lined up his next project, Anything But Ghosts, to be produced by genre powerhouses Jason Blum and Roy Lee—an early sign that Obsession’s market heat is translating into longer-term career momentum.
While festival buzz suggests strong audience energy around the midnight premiere, the deal also reflects broader buyer confidence in discoverable horror driven by clear hooks and emerging voices—a lane where Focus has competed aggressively. Deadline first reported the Focus talks.
