The supernatural/horror/thriller/tragedy film, Obsession, is a unicorn. One of one. It is defying the laws of box office gravity as in its first three weeks of release it has gone up … up and UP. In fact, it is the first movie since E.T. to do this and that film came out in 1982.
Obsession is not unimaginative in the slightest. It takes a straightforward, even well-worn premise and adheres to it mercilessly while identifying and exploring a disturbing underbelly that somehow has almost never been shown before in any prior instance of this premise. It’s really one of the best-case scenarios for this kind of horror movie. I love that an original film is making unexpectedly big waves. Even if it doesn’t directly lead to changes in release windows, hopefully its sustained success can be seen as a future argument for expanding those windows, just like “Sinners” did last year.
Sure, Obsession is an outlier and it has now been removed from Universals’ ‘Digital Release Calendar’. It has only had its run extended now because of the success it had within the shortened window. If the box office hadn’t risen the movie would be showing up on platforms tomorrow. Even if it’s not the best example, it is still a head-scratcher that studios have been so quick to move movies to streaming. Longer theatrical runs make sense – the simple ability of audiences to make it to the theater in the first place. I like going to movies but don’t exactly line up for new releases, so the habit of pulling them after a few weeks and dropping them into the streaming ooze often means I might not see them at all (I’m looking at you, In The Grey).
And, I get it. Recently released films like Obsession, Backrooms and I Love Boosters are not IP Blockbuster tentpoles. They are not expected to perform as such, monetarily. Especially if the marketing is not there.
I Love Boosters was distributed by Neon, which has put out Oscar-winning and crowd-pleasing horror movies before, but isn’t owned by a giant conglomerate like Focus and it’s not as big as A24. I simply haven’t seen as much promotion for it. Even though writer/director Boots Riley is doing his DAMNDEST on social media to get people out to theaters to check it. This film deserves at least a 45 day release window.
People judge big budget IP films and small budget non-IP films on different standards, which they should. But they also forget the math. If a $5M movie makes 20 times its total investment back, you have $95M profit. If a $200M movie makes back only 1.5x, you have $100M. The people making the decisions on which movie gets made would rather have $100M than $95M, despite the much lower ROI multiple. Especially since there is a chance the $200M movie makes them a billion dollars.
So many things about our current world make way more sense when you view it through a whale economy lens. Of course there’s good money to be made by catering to niche and underserved communities. But the people with the capital know they can risk less and ultimately make more chasing the “whales” who do the majority of all spending. Right now this all feels more like a Barbenheimer moment than New Hollywood. There’s a canary no longer singing somewhere, but it’s difficult to tell why. Although, I hope I’m wrong.
-Dagobot