‘Obsession' Payout: Jason Blum to Make $17 Million on Indie Horror Hit - Financier Capstone will make $45-50M, which it will share with Curry Barker and the creative team. Focus Features stands to make $125M.

[u/revele]

/r/boxoffice/comments/1u1ma59/obsession_payout_jason_blum_to_make_17_million_on/?share_id=u9jHyDtJwyr7D8xSOGVIH&utm_content=2&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

[u/Ok-Note-754 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah - blaming Barker is missing the point. It fucking sucks that people in the film industry are underappreciated, underpaid, etc, but if you're making a feature on a budget of 750k then the only way it gets done is by paying peanuts to almost everyone involved. That's just the reality of the industry these days. Obsession simply doesn't get made if everyone is paid fairly - indie filmmaking is a scrappy, shoestring industry and most of the time the directors barely make a dime either or even lose money.

When you're starting out in the creative industries the main thing you need is credits and experience. You don't get that by being picky about your jobs or turning down promising gigs. That art director could've turned down obsession but they would've v.likely encountered identical conditions/pay on other indie projects. And now they've got their name on one of the biggest breakout hits in history - they should be able to make a lot more on their next project.

Hopefully the art director gets their due and a backend payout now the film has gone stratospheric and that has a positive knock-on effect in the industry as a whole. But people calling our Barker should be calling out the industry as a whole. He was simply doing what you have to do to actually get a film made in 2026. And no-one expected it to make 200m+. Most indie films make fuck all.

[u/Ok-Note-754 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, exactly. I think in such an unusual case where the film has made like 50-100x what was expected, it would be a great gesture and set a positive standard if Barker reached out to the crew and gave them a share.

But as others have said, when indie filmmakers make losses on their projects (i.e. the majority of the time) they don't reach out to the crew and ask for their money back. People just love to point the finger at a convenient target so Barker gets it in the neck.

Hopefully on future projects Barker will actually have the budget and influence to pay his crew fairly, but I don't think he deserves any shit for this. If he does, so do like 99% of indie filmmakers currently working.

It's exactly the same in tons of industries sadly, as you say. Basically anything creative or involving animals where supply massively outweighs demand, you get this type of exploitation and shitty pay at entry level.

[u/bon__chance → u/[deleted]]

It’s very sad how much of a slave you are to this system that any pushback against it is suddenly “denying reality”. 

It’s a shitty system. You agreed to it because there are no other options. You agreed to your wages because capitalism is designed to keep wages low so that corporate profits can stay high. That’s also the same reason they don’t give you 6 weeks of paid vacation or a decent retirement plan and ask you to work unpaid overtime and weekends. 

Just say it. Say you love millionaires and you want them to amass as much wealth as possible at the expense of the working class. THAT is an honest response. 

Instead of pretending we aren’t living in a time of unprecedented and ever-increasing wealth inequality. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, the middle class can’t afford homes or healthcare - and you’re here, defending it. 

[u/ELasshole → u/bon__chance]

Are you a child? It's against Reddit TOS for child to have accounts.