A weekly film and box office newsletter. Howdy, folks! A new "Star Wars" movie hit theaters over the holiday (it did fine), but the story of the Memorial Day box office weekend is "Obsession." The Focus Features horror film from YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Curry Barker actually rose 39% in its second weekend, grossing $23.9 million to bring its domestic total to $60.1 million in two weeks. And the film only cost $1 million to make. That kind of increase is almost unheard of in this day and age, and speaks to how audiences have embraced the thriller about a guy whose wish that his childhood friend would fall in love with him has horrifying consequences. And while 26-year-old writer/director Curry Barker is popular on YouTube for making comedy videos, the success of "Obsession" goes beyond creator fandom. The film earned an A- CinemaScore and has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences are hungry for great horror movies and Barker delivered, while Focus leveraged the creep factor at the center of the movie for maximum buzz building. Also key: 75% of the audience who turned out for "Obsession" was between the ages of 18 and 25. Gen Z came out. It's one of the success stories of the year, surely, and could mark a one-two punch as another YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Kane Parsons heads to multiplexes this weekend with "Backrooms," an adaptation of his viral horror YouTube videos. It's an exciting moment in horror and for Gen Z filmmakers, and Barker is off and running with another Focus horror film, "Anything but Ghosts," already in the can, and he's signed to write and direct the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" reboot for A24. The big questions now are, can Barker deliver again, and perhaps more interestingly, can Focus use this to take on A24 and Neon in the "acclaimed horror" sphere? Now, on to the rest as we tackle the full Memorial Day weekend box office, the "queerest Cannes ever," Netflix's next theatrical move and more in this week's newsletter. Adam Chitwood Be sure to follow me on my socials linked below for the latest updates. DMs are open for tips.    
Box Office: ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ Flies to a Steady $163 Million Global OpeningDisney/Lucasfilm’s “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is having a “glass half-full or half-empty” sort of weekend at the Memorial Day box office, earning a 4-day start of $100 million domestic and $163 million worldwide, not counting Monday international grosses. The glass-half-empty view is... 
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