Anything But Ghosts, the directorial follow-up from Curry Barker, carries the same creative team behind the surprise hit Obsession and lands with a May 2027 release date. Focus Features and Blumhouse Atomic Monster are distributing the film, while Universal Pictures International handles international distribution.
Cooper Tomlinson and Barker play a pair of aspiring ghost hunters whose plans go badly wrong when things get frighteningly out of hand. Violet McGraw and Chris Reinacher round out the cast, with Bryce Dallas Howard and Aaron Paul also starring. Barker wrote the film alongside his long-time creative partner Tomlinson, who appeared in Obsession.
The release date puts Anything But Ghosts in direct competition with Lionsgate’s Mel Gibson-directed The Resurrection of the Christ (Part One), which launches on May 6, 2027. 20th Century Studios’ Patrick Schwarzenegger and Phoebe Dynevor movie Beach Read also opens on May 7. Sony starts summer 2027 on April 30 with The Legend of Zelda, based on the Nintendo video game.
The Obsession Run
This year, in early May, Obsession opened during the third weekend of May (May 15) with $17.1M domestically. Its hold was steady, and its second weekend saw a jump of +39%, hitting $23.9M. That was followed by another rise of +14% in its third weekend, reaching $27.3M, which brought the final domestic total to $263.4M. With a near-$520M worldwide tally, the film became a major success for Focus Features.
Focus Features picked up the CAA Media-backed Obsession for $15M at TIFF Midnight Madness 2025. That deal still stands as the biggest acquisition ever made from a film festival, topping the previous record set by Blair Witch Project with a $248.6M WW gross.
The opening feature from Barker, Milk & Serial, first appeared on YouTube where it drew nearly 3M views against a production budget of $800. Obsession came together for $750K at Capstone Studios, which then handed the title over to Focus.
Barker’s Own Words
Barker appeared at TIFF to mark the one-year anniversary of the premiere of The Obsession. During our DGA TIFF panel, he spoke with Deadline about “The hardest day on Obsession was the easiest day on Anything But Ghosts.”.
He added this: “We had a 130-page script and we had 26 days to shoot it. I’m also starring in it and directing and I’m the lead character. I have more lines than anyone in the movie.”.
“Zach Kregger just told me, ‘You have to cut 30 pages’ and I probably should have listened to him. So, did my manager; he told me that, too.”
“But I didn’t cut a single page because I wanted to shoot all of it,” says Barker. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done and we were compromising shots left and right off the shot list. Gone. Just like coverage was going out the windows. It was crazy.”
The Creative Team Behind It
Anything But Ghosts was produced through a collaboration among Spooky Pictures and Divide/Conquer, who worked together with Image Nation and Barker and Tomlinson’s That’s a Bad Idea as associate producers. The executive producers are Daniel Bekerman, Curry Barker, Cooper Tomlinson and Ben Ross. Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Jason Blum, Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath fill the role of producers.
The director’s approach is changing over time. He began with a modest indie streamer, then moved on to a festival acquisition, and now he is working toward establishing a franchise. Anything But Ghosts carries forward the world of Obsession, a connection Barker himself has confirmed in interviews.
The Competition
The May 2027 slate is crowded. Anything But Ghosts lands on May 7, the same day Lionsgate’s Mel Gibson-directed The Resurrection of the Christ (Part One) goes out on May 6. 20th Century Studios’ Beach Read opens on May 7.
Sony starts summer 2027 on April 30 with The Legend of Zelda, based on the Nintendo video game. That means three major releases are competing for attention across four weekends in May.
| Release | Date | Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Anything But Ghosts | May 7, 2027 | Focus Features / Blumhouse Atomic Monster |
| The Resurrection of the Christ (Part One) | May 6, 2027 | Lionsgate |
| Beach Read | May 7, 2027 | 20th Century Studios |
| The Legend of Zelda | April 30, 2027 | Sony |
What Barker Built
Barker’s rise has been striking. He began on a low-budget streamer, then got picked up at a festival, and is now working on a sequel. The leap from YouTube to TIFF to a $15M festival deal is an unusual path.
Obsession’s success suggests a pattern. The film’s hold pattern was strong, with a +39% second weekend spike followed by a +14% third weekend. That kind of performance is notable.
Barker keeps up his pace on Anything But Ghosts, shooting a 130-page script over 26 days while starring in it and directing. The film takes place in the same universe as Obsession, pointing to a larger shared mythology.
The Creative Collaborators
Tomlinson has returned to the screen, starring in Obsession while also writing the screenplay alongside Barker. The two previously collaborated on both Milk and Serial, and their work together continues on this latest project.
Blumhouse Atomic Monster is expanding its horror footprint, and Jason Blum of Blumhouse is leading the charge on this project. The film also carries ties to Image Nation.
Hollywood’s two most recognized names appear together in this cast: Bryce Dallas Howard and Aaron Paul.
The Road Ahead
The film Anything But Ghosts carries on the story from Obsession, and Barker has confirmed it as a direct sequel within the same universe. That confirmation gives fans of the earlier movie a clear starting place for picking up where they left off.
The May 2027 date gives the film room to build momentum. It sits between two major releases, which could work in its favor. The crowded slate means audiences have multiple options.
The film’s production is ambitious. Shooting a 130-page script in 26 days is a tight schedule, and Barker’s comments suggest it was a grueling process. He chose to shoot everything, even though he was told to cut 30 pages.
Throughout his career, Barker has repeatedly taken on demanding projects, moving from YouTube shorts to festival acquisitions to sequels while demonstrating a readiness to work through obstacles.
The Bottom Line
Anything But Ghosts, the sequel to Obsession, has set a May 2027 release date for its directorial follow-up from Curry Barker. Barker and Tomlinson return as leads, joined by Bryce Dallas Howard and Aaron Paul.
Barker has shown he can keep people watching, and the May 2027 lineup is full enough that a standout performance matters more than ever. Anything But Ghosts follows a pattern set by Obsession, which exceeded expectations, giving audiences another reason to pay attention.
Barker is taking on an ambitious project, and he has admitted the scale of it. He is shooting a 130-page script over 26 days, both starring in it and directing it. It is a heavy workload, yet this is the same person who transformed a YouTube streamer into a festival acquisition.
The premiere has been fixed, and the movie is now secured for a crowded season. The issue at hand is whether Anything But Ghosts can match the promise of the work that came before it.
Source material: “Curry Barker’s Next Movie ‘Anything But Ghosts’ Sets May 2027 Release,” Deadline.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.