"Obsession" breaks another record

The film "Obsession" has broken another box office record, one set when its director Kari Barker was in kindergarten, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

With a worldwide gross of $225,5 million, the horror hit is now the highest-grossing film ever purchased after a festival premiere, surpassing Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," which grossed $222 million worldwide in 2004.

Focus Features bought the rights to the film after it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, beating out competitors such as Neon and A24. The deal, worth about $15 million, was reached after about 24 hours of negotiations.

Although the film was very well received in Toronto, no one could have guessed that it would become a cinematic phenomenon and launch Barker among the leading Hollywood auteurs.

The film made more money in its second and third weekends than it did in its first weekend, a feat not seen since 1982's "ET the Extra-Terrestrial." Its fourth weekend saw a drop of just seven percent, and the film surpassed "Downton Abbey" to become the highest-grossing film in Focus Features' history globally.

As for the film “Fahrenheit 9/11”, it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2004, where it won the Palme d'Or.

The film was produced by Miramax and was a critique of the George W. Bush administration and its justification for the invasion of Iraq. However, Miramax's then-owner, The Walt Disney Company, refused to distribute the controversial documentary.

Therefore, Miramax founders Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein bought the rights to the film themselves, and then partnered with Lionsgate and IFC Films to release it in theaters.

For a time, “Fahrenheit 9/11” was the most successful film in Lionsgate's history, until it was surpassed by “The Hunger Games.” MZ