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Join today<\/a><\/p>\n \n Already a member? The ending of Obsession was originally much darker<\/a>, according to director Curry Barker.<\/p>\n Barker, 27, recently spoke about his alternate ending for the breakout horror hit <\/a>at a Q&A event moderated by filmmaker Rian Johnson in New York City.<\/p>\n \u201cI had this Romeo and Juliet ending,\u201d Barker told Johnson at MoMa\u2019s The Contender series, according to a video shared by Rolling Stone. <\/p>\n In the final cut of the movie, Michael Johnston\u2019s character Bear fatally overdoses in order to break the spell he cast on Nikki,<\/a> played by Inde Navarrette. After he dies in her arms, Nikki wakes up traumatized from her trance as she screams and cries.<\/p>\n However, in Barker\u2019s original script for the movie, he had planned for Nikki to shoot and kill herself after Bear dies in her arms, leaving both of the main characters dead.<\/p>\n Barker explained that financier Capstone Pictures had asked him to shoot a version of the ending where Nikki survives, but he initially refused <\/a>because he was so set on the morbid ending.<\/p>\n He ended up trying the alternate ending to appease Capstone, and was blown away by Navarrette\u2019s performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI said action and it was the best take she\u2019d done,\u201d Barker said. \u201cIt was so good… It totally changes the ending because it\u2019s like, now what is she going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson added: \u201cIt\u2019s so much darker.\u201d<\/p>\n Obsession brought a new spin on the long-running \u201cbe careful what you wish for\u201d trope. <\/a>In the film, Bear buys a cursed One Wish Willow, which promises to grant its owner one wish. He uses it to force his co-worker and longtime crush, Nikki, to \u201clove me more than anything in the entire world.\u201d <\/p>\n Bear then goes on to regret his wish as Nikki becomes creepily obsessed with him, leading to terrifying scares and, eventually, several deaths.<\/p>\n The film took the box office by storm this summer. The low-budget horror, made on a $750,000 budget, grossed more than $500 million worldwide, setting multiple box-office records and marking an unprecedented success for the indie. <\/p>\n As Barker\u2019s first feature film, the horror also landed him a $10 million bid for his next film without it even existing yet<\/a>, although the project will have to wait as Blumhouse-Atomic Monster has the right of first refusal for the film.<\/p>\n
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Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnson star in ‘Obsession’ (PA)![\"Curry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/2026-10-30T015638Z_1572524285_RC2BDOAOPM7I_RTRMADP_3_TIME-100-NEXT.JPG\")
Curry Barker wrote and directed \u2018Obsession\u2019 (Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/bear.jpg\")
Michael Johnston plays Bear in Curry Barker’s horror movie ‘Obsession’ (Focus Features)<\/p>\n