Obsession, which recently became Focus Features‘ highest-grossing movie ever, has reclaimed the No. 1 spot at the North American box office... during its fourth week in theaters.
The Curry Barker-directed horror phenomenon took in $4.2 million in its fourth week, ahead of Paramount and Miramax’s Scary Movie, which wasn’t too far behind with $4.1 million.
Obsession‘s domestic total currently sits at $156.1 million, with a global haul approaching $230 million.
Obsession has already become notorious for one of its most grisly and disturbing scenes, which sees Nikki (Inde Navarrette) - who is not in control of her actions after being taken over by a mysterious entity - repeatedly smash her friend Sarah's (Megan Lawless) face into a brick until it turns to unrecognisable mush.
It's a very gruesome moment, but Barker recently revealed that it was originally even more taxing on the audience.
“There was about six or seven more smashes,” said the filmmaker (via Dread Central). “And we were getting an NC-17 rating. And so they were like, 'you’ve got to take out some of the smashes.' And I was like, 'I’m not taking out a single bash.' But I did.”
"It still feels really f**king hardcore,” he added. “I’d watch from the back of the theater and the way everyone reacted – whatever the number is now, it’s the right number."
Will the longer version of the scene ever see the light of day? Barker teased the possibility of a director's cut during a separate interview with Popternative.
“I would love to do a director’s cut of this just because there’s so many things that are not in the movie. That would be really fun. But it would literally be a project for me. I would have to set aside some time to really dive into the footage again. It would have to be something that Focus [Features] really wants and I would be like, ‘Yes, let’s do it.’”
As for a potential sequel, Barker says he is open to exploring the premise further, but doesn't expect to revisit these specific characters (to be fair, only Nikki survives).
“I don’t think you’ll ever see these characters again, but it would be cool to expand this world with different characters.”
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