Studios Already Have an Obsession With Director Curry Barker

You kids heard about Reels?? They are short-form, vertical videos that Instagram lets users post so that other users who are scared of TikTok can still wreak havoc on their attention spans. And, sometimes, you’ll see some good stuff on there! Plenty of people have adapted to the format, putting out videos that can give you a giggle in around sixty seconds. Others have taken their longer videos from YouTube and ported them to Instagram for more coverage, once again targeting the less-than-savvy internet users like myself.

And good thing they are! That’s how I discovered the YouTube channel called That’s A Bad Idea. It’s a channel for the sketch comedy duo Curry Barker and Cooper Tomlinson. The first video of theirs that I saw was a Talk to Me parody, which I thought was pretty fantastic, and I’ve been fed a steady diet of their work on my feed ever since. Not only is their work very funny, but it’s also of a pretty high quality, so I wasn’t surprised to learn that they were moving on to a bigger project.

Obsession hit theaters to rave reviews and has been an insane box office success. On a budget of around $1 million, it has scared up a little over $90 million, and doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. I’ve yet to see the film, but those I know who have have very much enjoyed it, but it is not without its detractors. Barker, who wrote and directed the film, has already been attached to a new Texas Chain Saw Massacre remake, which I honestly don’t have a ton of interest in, but good for him.

What I’m far more excited for is whatever his next original movie will be, and it seems that I am not the only one. According to THR, studios have already been reaching out to buy the rights to Barker’s next original film even though he hasn’t pitched it yet. However, he had already signed a deal with Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, which gives them dibs on whatever project he’s up to next. If Blumhouse doesn’t decide to work on the film, whatever it ends up being, that could presumably leave the next ones in line with the ability to slide in.

But that’s also assuming that Barker wants to do an original film next (or any time in the near future). His jumping at the chance to direct a Chain Saw remake may give us a look into where his priorities lie. That said, he’s a young guy, and nothing is guaranteed in this business, so he could have seized on the remake because he wasn’t certain that people would be so obsessed (nailed it) with his big studio debut. Regardless, it looks like he’ll be a topic of conversation in Hollywood for the foreseeable future.