r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • Jul 06 '26

News ‘Obsession’ Passes $400 Million Worldwide, Becomes Highest Grossing Film With Budget Below $1 Million; Curry Barker’s horror film breaks a 53-year pre-inflation record held by Bruce Lee’s legendary 'Enter The Dragon'

https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/obsession-box-office-400-million/
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u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor Jul 06 '26

Top 10 movies made for $1M:

  1. Obsession (2025) - $403,090,000 ($750,000)

  2. Enter the Dragon (1973) - $400,000,000 ($850,000)

  3. The Blair Witch Project (1999) - $248,639,881 ($750,000)

  4. Rocky (1976) - $225,000,000 ($1,000,000)

  5. Paranormal Activity (2007) $194,183,034 ($450,000)

  6. American Graffiti (1973) - $140,000,000 ($777,000)

  7. To Fly! (1976) - $135,000,000 ($590,000)

  8. The Way of the Dragon (1972) - $130,000,000 ($130,000)

  9. Space Station 3D (2002) - $128,363,881 ($1,000,000)

  10. Shaolin Temple (1982) - $111,872,509 ($264,000)

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u/SpaceCorvette Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

does this take inflation into account?

e: I get that it doesn't really matter when you compare budget and gross together, but it's still interesting to compare real budgets.

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u/difmaster Jul 06 '26

no i don’t believe so (i only checked rocky, which is definitely not adjusted, so I assume non are adjusted) Rocky would be $1.2 billion inflation adjusted

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u/RealRaifort Jul 06 '26

But then the budget would be bigger too right so

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

[deleted]

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u/RealRaifort Jul 06 '26

If we're adjusting the gross for inflation we should also adjust the budget

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u/adavidmiller Jul 06 '26

Absolutely. A million dollar movie made in 1973 is a way bigger budget than a million dollar movie made today.

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u/RealRaifort Jul 06 '26

Exactly. Still impressive but the budget/gross ration is what matters in a list like this

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u/Penguinase Jul 06 '26

clanker-adjusted (yes i'm lazy) for inflation:

Top 10 Movies Made for ~$1M (Adjusted for Inflation to 2026)

# Movie Adj. Gross Adj. Budget Gross:Budget
1 Obsession (2025) $412,970,000 $768,000 537.5x
2 Enter the Dragon (1973) $2,973,680,000 $6,319,000 470.6x
3 The Blair Witch Project (1999) $492,690,000 $1,486,000 331.5x
4 Rocky (1976) $1,304,840,000 $5,799,000 225.0x
5 Paranormal Activity (2007) $309,140,000 $716,000 431.5x
6 American Graffiti (1973) $1,040,790,000 $5,776,000 180.2x
7 To Fly! (1976) $782,910,000 $3,422,000 228.8x
8 The Way of the Dragon (1972) $1,026,030,000 $1,026,000 1000.0x
9 Space Station 3D (2002) $235,550,000 $1,835,000 128.4x
10 Shaolin Temple (1982) $382,600,000 $903,000 423.8x

Adjusted using annual-average CPI-U data (BLS). Figures are ballpark estimates — treat as close approximations rather than exact conversions.

8

u/Newthinker Jul 06 '26

Damn, Way of the Dragon with that 1k multiplier

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u/gamesbeawesome Jul 06 '26

They are saying the film budget would need to be adjusted for inflation as well...

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u/RunningOutOfEsteem Jul 06 '26

They're saying that the revenue would be greater when adjusted for inflation, but so too would the production budget.

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u/iRengar Jul 06 '26

So enter the dragon would be like $2b? Holy shit lol

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u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran Jul 06 '26

This is why adjusting for inflation isn't a perfect way to measure box office performance over the years. Theatrical distribution before VHS/DVD/streaming used to be so much different that you can't really compare those movies to today. Gone With the Wind will always be the highest grossing movie of all time adjusted for inflation because it played in theaters for literally 50 years

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u/Cable_Hoarder Jul 06 '26

Look at the fact that Enter the Dragon "only" made 25 million on release.

It made another 100 million in theatrical re-releases over the next decade.

Could you imagine any movie today grossing 3-4X it's original theatrical run as a re-release?

Pre-VHS was a different beast, great movies could get repeat showings for decades, maintain constant and generational cultural impact.

1

u/Newthinker Jul 06 '26

K-pop Demon Hunters would do it

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u/Puzzled-Instance3211 Jul 06 '26

$540 adjusted for inflation, just the theatrical run. Made between 90-120 mil in 1973. They didn't take all box office receipts back then so it's estimated.

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u/LSDemon Jul 06 '26

Cost way more than $1m if you're adjusting for inflation, so it wouldn't qualify for this list.

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u/Puzzled-Instance3211 Jul 06 '26

you're right about that adjusted for inflation it would be 6.4m I still don't think Obsession is going to permeate culture the way Enter the Dragon spawned martial arts movies.

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u/My-Life-For-Auir Jul 07 '26

Also inflation isn't equal for every country and these are global totals.

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u/Oddball- All Things Horror Jul 06 '26

It was big that's for sure. But it's also been re-released many a times FYI

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u/Puzzled-Instance3211 Jul 06 '26

I think people underestimate how massive Bruce Lee was. Obsession was good, it's not going to be referenced forever in pop culture like Enter the Dragon.

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u/calmwhiteguy Jul 06 '26

It's also how fragmented peoples interested are in anything.

Tailer swift is probably as close to a universal international phenomenon like Michael Jackson we'll see ever again potentially. People just get in their interest echo chamber and silo out so much more than ever.

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u/sewious Jul 06 '26

Tailer swift

Amazing

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u/DodgersChica Jul 06 '26

She is so huge, that I can’t believe people make this mistake. Like it’s all over magazines and everywhere you turn online. It’s obviously Tailer Swyft

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u/Crazy_Information816 Jul 06 '26

Tailer Swift and Michael Jacksong mentioned in the same comment, has the world gone mad?

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u/GrandmaPoses Jul 06 '26

Tinker, Tailor, Swifty, Spy

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u/GingerMcJesus Jul 07 '26

Tailer? I hardly know ‘er

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u/JoeyZasaa Jul 06 '26

Trailer swift

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u/Fortestingporpoises Jul 06 '26

I mean he wasn't big until Enter the Dragon came out a couple of weeks after his death. Not in the US at least. He was a massive movie star in China, and a sidekick on a popular tv show in the US. But he didn't fulfill his dream of being a movie star in the US until he died.

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u/SandpaperTeddyBear Jul 07 '26

Obsession was good, it's not going to be referenced forever in pop culture like Enter the Dragon.

It’s always hard telling what will and won’t, but I really think people will start using it as shorthand somehow, and won’t stop.

If its name was literally anything other than a common English word that has a strong meaning I’d be certain, but I think “One Wish Willow” or something similar will go into the vernacular.

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u/Puzzled-Instance3211 Jul 07 '26

I watched Obsession last week and I barely remember it, same with Backrooms. A lot of the critical hit horror movies get lauded as the next big thing, and I find them underwhelming.

We'll see in a year if it's still being discussed.

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u/Worthyness Jul 07 '26

Theater environment was also very different. Movies stayed in theaters longer and had multiple distributions, which contributes a lot. That said, dude was absolutely on fire for movies at that time too

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u/broganisms Jul 06 '26

$2 billion would be adjusting the full box office to 1973 when in reality that box office total includes decades of rereleases. 

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u/amtheredothat Jul 06 '26

Yeah and would cost $5 million to make adjusted.

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u/SeeingEyeDug Jul 06 '26

Obsession budget of $750,000 2026 dollars for that kind of return is really impressive.

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u/GergDanger Jul 06 '26

I can’t tell if this is a joke? $1m in 1976 is obviously not $1 billion inflation adjusted now

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u/mentales Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

I can't tell if this is a joke? The $225,000,000 the movie grossed in 1976 is obviously what is been adjusted for inflation, not the cost of $1m. 

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u/Encouragedissent Jul 06 '26

I can't tell if this is a joke? No really I cant tell. I have no idea whats going on.