Obsession has been the new horror movie success story of the 2026 movie calendar. An indie film, written and directed by a new, up-and-coming director, on a tiny budget, becoming a box-office juggernaut is newsworthy. Though most of the words written about Obsession have been positive, a new story coming out of Hollywood is less glamorous. A lawsuit filed by one of the film’s producers has turned the film into a legal battle, and, allegedly, “she is confident in her case.”
This news come to us from The Hollywood Reporter, which reports that a lawsuit filed in California state court on Monday has producer Leonora Ann Darby accusing Tea Shop Productions’ co-founders and her colleagues James Harris and Mark Lane of defaulting on an agreement to treat her as an equal producer at the company. What’s more, she claims they didn’t acknowledge her key role on Obsession, leading to financial ramifications. A statement released by her attorney reads:
Ms. Darby has brought serious and substantial claims, supported by a detailed factual record. She is confident in her case and intends to pursue it fully.
Per the filing, Darby alleges she played a much larger role in the film’s unprecedented success. Furthermore, despite the movie recently crossing $500 million worldwide on a reported budget of less than a million, she was excluded from the net profit participation allegedly promised for the projects she worked on as lead producer.
The lawsuit filing makes some significant allegations. Partly, it reads:
Darby‘s notes on the opening relational set up between the lead male and female characters, the character arcs in the first two acts and her strong recommendation (which was adopted) to fully commit to the film‘s supernatural elements, including making the One Wish Willow a real element that functioned as intended in the real world of the film (with the iconic ‘money scene’ thus confirming this), critically resulted in a new pathway for the film.
The lawsuit alleges Darby stepped up to take charge and ensure the film was finished on time for the Toronto International Film Festival, where it ultimately sold to Focus Features for $16.2 million.
Darby maintains that after the movie became successful, Harris and Lane repeatedly broke their 2024 agreement with her. In the spring, purportedly she raised her concerns about the movie earnings with Harris, explaining that she could see the financial details in the collection-account management agreement. The lawsuit states that Harris reportedly offered Darby an initial payment of $300,000, and both agreed that she would thereafter continue to receive a share of the net profits.
The former producer asserts that shortly after expressing her concerns, her access to information regarding the collection account management agreement was revoked.
According to the complaint, her treatment during the making of Obsession was allegedly part of a larger pattern of unkept promises during her time working with Tea Shop Productions. It describes a long-running issue where Harris and Lane promised Darby equal treatment. They reportedly offered her a one-third (33.3 percent) share of the net profits, but they retained control over the processes that would actually allow her to benefit from that share. Darby is asking for a complete accounting of several projects, including Obsession, and for any unpaid profit shares and bonuses owed to her.
The entertainment world was enthralled with the Cinderella-like story of 26-year-old writer and director Curry Barker’s breakthrough from YouTube creator to blockbuster filmmaker. But now, due to the lawsuit, that story has a wrinkle that won’t be ironed out until the lawsuit finds an agreeable settlement for all involved.
Barker’s next major project is his follow-up film, the original horror-comedy Anything But Ghosts, followed by writing and directing A24’s upcoming The Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot.
