Obsession is in theaters now and is not yet available to stream. If you want to watch it today, you need to go to a cinema. Here’s the full breakdown of where it is now, where it’s headed next, and everything else you need to know about the film before you see it.
Is Obsession streaming?
No. As of June 2026, Obsession has no streaming home. The film opened in US theaters on May 15, 2026, and is still in its theatrical window. No official date has been announced for digital rental, purchase, or subscription streaming.
In theaters
Focus Features released Obsession wide on May 15, 2026. It is still playing in cinemas across the United States, and given its box office trajectory, it is unlikely to leave anytime soon.
The film opened to $17.2 million in its first weekend, then grew 39% in its second weekend to $23.9 million – the largest second-weekend increase for a wide-release horror film outside of the Christmas holiday window. A strong Memorial Day frame added another $32 million.
By early June, Obsession had crossed $224 million worldwide against a production budget of $750,000 to $1 million. That makes it Focus Features’ highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing the studio’s previous record-holder, Downton Abbey ($194.6 million worldwide in 2019).
You can find showtimes through Fandango, AMC, Regal, or Cinemark.
When will Obsession be available to rent or buy digitally?
No official date has been announced. Focus Features titles typically move to digital rental roughly 45 days after their wide theatrical release. That puts the earliest likely window at late June or early July 2026.
Once it lands, expect it to appear on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google TV, and Fandango at Home. Both Apple TV and Prime Video already have listing pages up for the title, you can add it to your watchlist now and get notified when it goes live.
Also read: Where to watch Backrooms (2026): Theaters, Streaming, and Everything You Need to Know
When will Obsession be on streaming?
The most likely home for Obsession on subscription streaming is Peacock. Focus Features is distributed by Universal Pictures, and Universal titles in the United States typically go to Peacock first for their subscription window under the studio’s long-standing NBCUniversal deal. Based on the theatrical timeline and standard studio release patterns, Peacock is the probable destination – likely sometime in August 2026, though no date has been confirmed.
Universal Pictures International handles distribution in most territories outside the United States. In Australia, where Peacock is not available as a standalone service, NBCUniversal content typically goes to Stan, BINGE, or Foxtel Now. Check local listings for your country.
What is Obsession about?
Obsession is a supernatural psychological horror film written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker. The film stars Michael Johnston as Baron “Bear” Bailey, a timid music store employee who has been quietly in love with his co-worker Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette) for years. Unable to bring himself to say anything to her, Bear breaks a mysterious toy called the “One Wish Willow” – a cursed object sold to him by a mystic shop employee wishing for Nikki to fall in love with him.
She does. That is where the horror starts.
Nikki’s feelings are not natural affection. They are violent, obsessive, and consuming. She cannot help herself. The wish has made her a victim of her own attachment to Bear, and what follows is 109 minutes of psychological horror built around the ugliest possible version of “be careful what you wish for.” Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, and Andy Richter appear in supporting roles.
Also read: Where Was Obsession Filmed? Every Real Location Behind the 2026 Horror Thriller
Reviews
The film carries a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes. One review from Rue Morgue called it a film that “taps into universally relatable emotions, hooking the audience into the central situation before spinning it off in supernaturally chilling directions.” The performance drawing the most attention is Navarrette’s. One critic wrote that she “lends Obsession a sense of urgency while humanizing some of the film’s more schematic choices” – her Nikki is framed as both antagonist and victim, and the film is sharper for holding both at once.
The film almost received an NC-17 rating from the MPA for a single violent sequence. Barker trimmed it down between the TIFF premiere in September 2025 and the SXSW screening. He has said the sequence still feels, in his words, “really f—ing hardcore.”
Who made Obsession?
Curry Barker is 26 years old, grew up in Mobile, Alabama, and had no traditional film industry background before Obsession. He is half of the YouTube sketch comedy duo “That’s a Bad Idea,” which he co-runs with Cooper Tomlinson. The channel has over 1M subscribers on YouTube.
Before Obsession, Barker made a found-footage horror film called Milk & Serial in 2024. He shot it with Tomlinson, wrote it, directed it, edited it, and scored it himself. The budget was $800. After a year of failing to find a distributor, Barker uploaded it to YouTube for free. It reached 1.6 million views, made Variety’s list of the best horror films of 2024, and landed Barker a deal with United Talent Agency. Milk & Serial is still free to watch on YouTube – worth seeing before or after Obsession, as Barker’s sensibility is already fully formed in it.
When producer James Harris of Tea Shop Productions reached out to Barker about adapting a different project, Barker pitched him on Obsession instead. Harris brought in producer Christian Mercuri of Capstone Pictures, who bankrolled the film and later brought Blumhouse on board after Focus Features closed the deal. Obsession premiered in the Midnight Madness section of TIFF in September 2025. Focus Features acquired it days later for an estimated $15 million.
Barker has described his comedy background as the foundation for his approach to horror. “As a comedian, you’re constantly studying the human condition,” he told Rotten Tomatoes. “When you’re always studying the psychology of why people do things, those skills lend themselves really well to horror.” He pointed to the Simpsons episode where Bart gets a monkey’s paw as a direct inspiration for Obsession‘s premise.
Barker and Tomlinson are now working on a second horror film for Blumhouse. Barker is also writing and directing a reimagining of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for A24.
Should you see it in theaters?
The case for seeing Obsession in a cinema rather than waiting for home video is the crowd. Multiple reviewers have noted that the film is designed for a packed audience – the reactions around you are part of the experience. One critic wrote after seeing it that her theater was almost full on a Friday afternoon, which is unusual for any film, let alone a non-franchise horror debut.
Jason Blum, who executive produced the film, posted on X that Obsession is “the ONLY wide-release horror film on record to grow in its second weekend at this scale.” That kind of word-of-mouth energy tends to fill the room, and the film seems built for it.
If you cannot or would rather wait, the digital rental window should open in late June. Peacock subscribers are likely looking at August.
