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Obsession Opens in Theaters With Strong Buzz and a Breakout Turn for Inde Navarrette

Curry Barker’s studio debut turns a wish-gone-wrong premise into a sharp parable about consent.

Overview

  • The Focus Features release, which opened Friday in U.S. theaters, drew strong early notices highlighting Inde Navarrette’s performance.
  • The film follows a man who uses a novelty “One Wish Willow” to force a crush to love him, a setup critics say fuels graphic, R-rated horror.
  • Time reports Focus acquired the movie for about $14 million after a buzzy festival debut, and early scores on Rotten Tomatoes have been near perfect.
  • In interviews, writer-director Curry Barker says he set out to examine selfish wishes and the cost of not communicating feelings in modern dating.
  • Focus and Universal built awareness with a character text line, street ads in Nikki’s handwriting style, and a final clip released Friday.