CO-HOST | Make Money by Betting on Creators Before Everyone Else Does

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Travis Makes Money

Episode: CO-HOST | Make Money by Betting on Creators Before Everyone Else Does

Host: Travis Chappell | Guest: Eric (Producer)

Date: June 9, 2026

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Overview

In this episode, Travis Chappell sits down with his producer Eric for a vibrant, movie-centric conversation that quickly pivots into powerful commentary about creators breaking into Hollywood via unconventional routes. Sparked by the phenomenal success of YouTube creator Curry Barker’s indie horror film Obsession, the duo dissects how betting on up-and-coming creators—before they attain mainstream fame—can yield immense rewards both in culture and finance. The discussion also touches on the overlap between comedy and horror, why horror breeds low-budget box office success, and what these trends mean for the future of entertainment and investment.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Creator-Driven Success: From YouTube to Hollywood Blockbusters

Timestamp: 13:15–15:30

• Curry Barker, a 27-year-old YouTube sketch comedian, directed Obsession, a horror movie that’s rapidly become a critical and financial sensation.
• The film was made on a shoestring budget ($750,000) but has grossed near $100 million in two weeks.
• Travis and Eric reflect on how creators are breaking through traditional Hollywood barriers and gatekeeping, enabling new voices and business models.
  • "It’s cool when you see somebody who’s like, ‘I wish they would do more stuff like this,’ and then they get afforded the opportunity and actually nail it." — Travis [21:28]

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2. The Natural Pipeline: Comedy to Horror

Timestamp: 13:37–16:36

• Despite originating in comedy, creators like Barker are excelling in horror. This, the hosts argue, is not surprising.
• Eric highlights the razor-thin line between comedy and horror—both elicit intense, visceral reactions like laughter or screams.
  • "All comedy is surprise... horror kind of follows the same formula." — Travis paraphrasing Anthony Jeselnik [16:08]
  • "The most visceral response you can have is laughing or screaming or jumping." — Eric [16:36]
• They mention other examples like Sam Raimi (comedy influences in Evil Dead), reinforcing how the skills translate across genres.

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3. Low-Budget Horror: The Formula for Outsized Hits

Timestamp: 19:51–21:10

• Travis asks why major low-budget hits tend to be horror films.
• Eric explains both horror and action are cheap to make yet widely marketable and effective at attracting audiences.
  • "It’s kind of crazy that way... when a horror movie actually scares me, I’m like, ‘Oh, you’re doing something that’s just crazy unique.’" — Eric [20:43]
• Hits like Paranormal Activity or The Blair Witch Project are cultural touchpoints for this phenomenon.

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4. Sharing Personal Horror Movie Rankings

Timestamp: 04:35–07:45

• Eric rattles off his top horror picks since the 2010s:
  • 1. Hereditary
  • 2. X Trilogy (inc. Pearl, Maxine)
  • 3. Obsession (Barker’s film)
  • 4. When Evil Lurks
  • 5. Barbarian or Infinity Pool
• Travis admits his limited exposure to horror, finding The Conjuring and Insidious to be the scariest he’s seen.
• This leads to a humorous debate about what qualifies as "horror" versus "thriller."
  • "Horror is supernatural. Thriller is, you know..." — Eric [06:55]
  • "So like, Strangers would be a thriller to me." — Eric [07:04]

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5. Plot Holes and Script Crafting — The Case of Indiana Jones

Timestamp: 12:01–13:15

• Eric shares a fun fan theory that Indiana Jones’s actions in Raiders of the Lost Ark don’t actually affect the story’s outcome.
  • "If Indiana Jones and you took him completely out of the movie, nothing would change about the plot." — Eric [12:01]
• Travis admits he hadn’t considered this before, sparking laughs.
  • "He just kind of slows things down at points." — Travis [12:53]

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6. The Hollywood Economy: What These Successes Mean

Timestamp: 22:22–26:03

• Obsession’s stats:
  • Produced for $750,000
  • Sold to Focus Features for $15 million
  • Opened domestically at $17M; second weekend grossed nearly $24M (unprecedented for a horror film)
  • Total box office: $62.3M in U.S. alone and climbing
  • Barker locked for his next Focus Features film and set to direct a Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot
• This ignites discussion on how such “creator” projects disrupt the old studio system, likening it to the 1970s’ auteur revolution (Lucas, Coppola, Scorsese).
• Success is both creative and financial—these films aren’t just leveraging built-in audiences; they're being celebrated for craft.

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7. Word-of-Mouth and Audience Power

Timestamp: 26:28–26:51

• Eric recounts how friends texted him excitedly about Obsession before he could even see it.
  • "That word of mouth was already strong... I haven’t watched a horror movie in theaters in a minute, this one's getting me." — Eric [26:28]
• The hosts agree: these movies are blowing up because THEY’RE GOOD—not because they’re "YouTube movies."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On creator-to-Hollywood pipeline:
  • "The thing that makes them good at that thing also makes them good at this other thing. It’s just that previously they didn’t have access to funds or capital.” — Travis [21:19]
• On horror movie effectiveness:
  • “When a horror movie actually scares me, I’m like—oh, you’re doing something that’s just crazy unique.” — Eric [20:43]
• On comedy/horror overlap:
  • “All comedy is surprise... horror kind of follows the same formula.” — Travis [16:08]
• On mainstream industry shock:
  • “I always love when studio execs are shocked... here’s a fiercely original movie that’s really good. I can’t believe people are watching it and not Thor 7.” — Eric [22:22]
• Summarizing the moment for indie film:
  • “As a film nerd, it feels like this is the closest we’ve gotten to the ’70s era, where Coppola and Lucas and Scorsese are all coming up—‘We’re gonna shake up this boring system.’” — Eric [25:31]

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Key Segment Timestamps

• 00:53 – Friendly banter; Star Wars & movie talk intro
• 04:09 – Eric’s top horror movies since 2010
• 10:34 – Discussion of Obsession and Barker’s background
• 13:15 – The pipeline from YouTube to Hollywood; creator economy
• 16:08 – Comedy vs. horror: surprise and reaction
• 19:51 – Why horror so often leads low-budget indie breakouts
• 21:27 – On industry gatekeeping and new opportunities
• 22:22 – Obsession’s numbers and industry impact
• 24:54 – Barker’s future projects and the wave of creator-led hits
• 26:28 – Word-of-mouth in the Gen Z–creator landscape
• 27:28 – Call to support creator-made films and wrap-up

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Conclusion

Travis and Eric present a spirited, in-depth conversation about the seismic shifts enabled by betting early on creators working outside traditional Hollywood structures. Through the lens of Obsession and other YouTube-to-film success stories, they highlight how unique perspectives, cross-genre expertise, and a rejection of old gatekeeping are transforming the movie business—and investing. The episode is an encouragement to both creators and those who would “bet” on them, closing with the practical message: support creators you believe in and be open to unconventional approaches to money, content, and success.

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Transcript

[Travis]

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[Travis]

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[Eric]

Hey.

[Travis]

Hey.

[Eric]

Bring in the energy, bring in the heat. How are you doing today, Travis?

[Travis]

A. Okay.

[Eric]

See any good movies lately?

[Travis]

I have, yeah.

[Eric]

What movies?

[Travis]

Sounds like a rehearsed talk track, but I'll go along with it. I watched the Mandalorian and Grogu.

[Eric]

I loved the Mandalorian and Grogu.

[Travis]

That was fantastic.

[Eric]

It's the first time that I've walked out of a Star wars movie in a long time. Like buzzing. Yeah, like, oh, that.

[Travis]

Where like I would go back and see it again.

[Eric]

Yes.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Now.

[Travis]

Yep. Tonight.

[Eric]

Yeah, I saw it a long, long time ago.

[Travis]

Like three days ago.

[Eric]

No, I'm just kidding. No, I loved it. It was the first time I felt like the last time I felt this electric after a Star wars movie was when A New Hope came out in 1977 when I was but a Wii.

[Travis]

A Wii minus 20.

[Eric]

No, but when the Force Awakens came out. Cause I actually liked that movie a lot and it gave me all of the excitement. And seeing Luke Skywalker and you're like, oh my gosh.

[Travis]

Yeah, totally.

[Eric]

This is gonna lead somewhere amazing.

[Travis]

And then it didn't.

[Eric]

But no. The Mandalorian. I literally was seeing the theater and I smiled at parts. I was like, ah, that's awesome. And then all the scenes where they're landing the ships and the Easter egg that you didn't even notice because you're not a real Star wars fan. There was so. I couldn't believe it. I literally, I literally was sitting in the theater in the Mandalorian and they show that all the creatures come out and I was like, wait a minute, wait. And then they cut to a wide shot of the whole arena, it has the checkered floor. And I was like, oh my God, that's the game they're playing in A New Hope. And I literally was like, I have nobody to look at. You know when you're watching a movie and you get it and you're like, yeah, does anybody know what's happening right now?

[Travis]

I wouldn't have known what was happening.

[Eric]

That's crazy.

[Travis]

Although during that scene, I was shielding my daughter's eyes because she was very creeped out by some of the monsters and creatures in that scene. So I wasn't fully engaged for that.

[Eric]

I felt like it was a good mix of things that were like adult feeling like. I feel like the beginning was very. It was very like Mandalorian meets John Wick for the beginning. And then I feel like it got very creature feature at the end. Like, I loved the whole snake thing and all that. And I liked that it was like a. The way that he. It was just cool.

[Travis]

I like the, like showing all the huts. Yeah, I thought that was.

[Eric]

Oh, you got to live somewhere.

[Travis]

Take the. On the huts family genealogy. Yeah. Anyway, without spoiling that movie. Yes, I have seen a good movie recently and it was that one.

[Eric]

Yeah. When I honestly, I didn't know if you knew this, but I was actually doing motion capture for the huts a couple weeks ago when I was in Utah after I left the podcast studio. They're like, we need a large bodied man. And they saw my picture from the Utah podcast studio where I looked like I was 800 pounds. And they're like, can you motion capture for the huts? So I played slug number three.

[Travis]

I did not know that. Yeah, good for you. You're just rolling around in your filth in caves.

[Eric]

Like, we'll just document. Don't create, just document, boys. Anyway, anyway, I wanted to talk about another film that I just saw that you haven't seen and you should see because you should support cinema.

[Travis]

I did not watch it because it is a horror film and I'm typically not a horror.

[Eric]

This is so good.

[Travis]

Okay.

[Eric]

I went to go see the movie Obsession directed by Curry Barker.

[Travis]

Barker? Is it Barker?

[Eric]

Why are you going to do this to me?

[Travis]

Oh, okay. Well, you seem very confident, so.

[Eric]

Yeah, Curry Barker. Okay, curry barker, 27 year old youtuber made a. Maybe one of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time.

[Travis]

Really?

[Eric]

Maybe if I'm gonna do it a list and I'm gonna go off the dome because I feel like that's fair

[Travis]

is of all time or like what you've seen.

[Eric]

Let's go 20. Let's go since 2010. So we'll go the 2010. Wait, what are we in now? 2000s. Yeah, let's go. The best.

[Travis]

It's a weird thing to forget but.

[Eric]

But I do think about that. I go like, oh, the Dark Knight. That came out 15 years ago. Let's go in the 2000 and 20s. Okay. I'm going to go off the dome and I'm going to give my top five and I'm going to go again. I'm going to go off the dome because if I have to remind myself it existed, it probably didn't impact me the way I think it did. I'm going to go. Hereditary is still number one. Hereditary is the best horror movie that's come out probably the last 20 years, I think, and scared me. I'm going to do. Well, I'm going to do X and I'm going to combine that with Pearl. I'm just going to do the X trilogy in there because I'm not going to do them all separate. I might. If 2000s, I might put obsession at number three. Wow.

[Travis]

Pretty high praise from a first time director.

[Eric]

It's very good. It's very, very good.

[Travis]

On a $750,000 budget.

[Eric]

Yeah, $750,000 budget. Now I'm trying to think what I would put in this last category here. Wow, there's a movie. I can't remember the name of it though, but it scared me so much I'm going to look. This is cheating. But I always forget the name of it.

[Travis]

So it must not have impacted you then.

[Eric]

No, it did, it did. But it's. Hold on. What's the most scared you've ever been by a movie, by the way?

[Travis]

Probably the conjuring. Yeah, yeah, probably the conjuring that I would put Insidious there. But it was less like.

[Eric]

It's that one jump.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Eric]

That's so scary.

[Travis]

With the red dude.

[Eric]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Darth Maul.

[Travis]

Yeah, exactly.

[Eric]

Literally like spirit, spirit version of Darth. What if Darth Maul was in this movie and it was so scary.

[Travis]

Yeah. I thought the premise of those ones were good. Like that. Would that be horror though? Would that be suspense? Would that.

[Eric]

Yeah, I'd say it's horror. I always say. I don't know if this is true, but I always say like horror is supernatural. Thriller is, you know.

[Travis]

I see. So like strangers would be.

[Eric]

Yeah, like that's a thriller to me.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Eric]

But again, we could debate that. I mean, who cares Number four, I would put when evil Lurks. It's an Argentinian horror movie and it has one of the most unsettling images I've ever seen in a movie ever. It scared the heck out of me. And then if I'm going to put a last one, I'm going to say infinity pool. I'm going to put that in there. Mia Goth is great. And that's super cool.

[Travis]

Just exposing my lack of knowledge of horror films.

[Eric]

I know we got to get you in there. Oh, you know what? No. Going to cross it off. Barbarian. I'm going to do Barbarian.

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[Eric]

That's a great movie too.

[Travis]

But Obsession. It made the top five. Yeah.

[Eric]

If I'm going top 2000s horror, it's hereditary, Ex Pearl, Maxine, Obsession right there at number three. When evil lurks and then barbarian. I'm gonna throw it in there. It's so good. It's such a great movie. And it's one of those movies, like when you see it and you're like, it's so sickening to me that he's this young and also this smart. Where I watched the movie and I was like, this is crafted like it's a veteran filmmaker. And then also I left. And the more I thought about the movie, the more everything works where it's like you try to pick apart like, okay, well, it's typically the opposite with a lie. I think with like, there's times where I'll watch something and it's. And then like later I'll be like, but why did so and so show up there?

[Travis]

Sure.

[Eric]

Or where did they get.

[Travis]

You don't recognize the plot hole until you're thinking about it.

[Eric]

Right. Like, spoiler alert for the movie. No, I won't say that.

[Travis]

Okay.

[Eric]

But there's just so many.

[Travis]

If you want me to watch it, then I would say don't say it.

[Eric]

Yeah, I'm not gonna say it, but there's something in the movie where I'm like, wait, why do they have that all of a sudden? And then I was like, oh, they had dialogue five minutes in that talks about that. Where it's so clear. And then even when the character left, the timing all makes sense. So it was really cool. You know. What's the craziest plot? It's not really a plot hole, but an interesting plot thing. Have you seen Raiders the Lost Ark? Yeah, the Indiana Jones movie. Have you heard of that?

[Travis]

Yes.

[Eric]

So you've seen Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. The craziest thing ever about that movie is if Indiana Jones and you took him completely out of the movie, nothing would change about the plot. If he doesn't exist, everything would happen exactly the same in the movie and the exact same way because it wasn't

[Travis]

even him who figured out the obstacles thing.

[Eric]

Yeah. If. Cause if Indiana Jones wasn't there with Marian, they would have just got the amulet from her. They would have found out where the ark is buried. They would have got the ark. They would have done the ritual. They would have all got disintegrated. Spoiler alert for Rhaey's lost ark. And the only thing that would change is that the ark would just still be sitting there on the island. But nothing would. Like, he doesn't affect the story of rare's lost ark at all.

[Travis]

That's interesting.

[Eric]

He just kind of slows things down at points.

[Travis]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Eric]

So stupid. Spielberg, man.

[Travis]

I.

[Eric]

Just kidding. Someone said that, like, that ruined the movie for me. I was like, what? Why do you watch movies? It doesn't have to. Things can happen to people. It doesn't have to. But I thought that was so crazy because I was like, no, but what about him finding where the ark is buried? It's like, well, they would have done that the same. So that's pretty interesting.

[Travis]

That is interesting. Anyway, Curry, Barker, the reason that we're talking about this is because it's another example of a creator turned Hollywood.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Travis]

In a very, very successful way. And this is coming off the tale of the markiplier film that we're talking about months ago. Yeah, a couple months ago.

[Eric]

Great movie. Yeah.

[Travis]

But this one was interesting to me just because this guy is hilarious and I only knew him and most people Only knew him from the context of the sketch comedy stuff that he does on YouTube and Instagram and some of the best sketch comedy that I follow online, anyway. Yeah, and it's funny because Murr talked about that when I talked to him, he was like, the line between comedy and horror is such a fine line. Because that was a question for me. It was like, is it strange for you to go from impractical jokers, haha funny. To writing and filming horror and writing. He wrote the book and then adapted to a screenplay, turn it into a movie. And he was like, no, not at all. Because the line between those two genres is so, so close or so thin. And it was like. I never really thought about it like that. Well, again, I'm not a big horror guy, but now that I'm seeing more examples of this, this is like another clear example. It's like, well, it's just kind of

[Eric]

visceral reaction making things online. Yeah.

[Travis]

And it was. And it's good quality stuff. It's not just. Not to say that it's bad if you film on an iPhone. But you know, I'm saying like, he. They actually put work into the sketch comedy that they do. It's, it's scripted and they have good acting and they have set and a crew and extra. Like they put a lot of work into, you know, creating these things. But that was really the only other thing like he, he had, he had, I believe, filmed a horror film on his own film. Starred, wrote, directed, super small, which I've heard is good.

[Eric]

And I haven't watched it yet, but

[Travis]

he posted it on YouTube. YouTube. Because he couldn't get anybody to pick it up. And then apparently just that act was enough for somebody to go like, oh, sure, here's some money. And they gave him a little bit of money. And in that world, it is a little bit of money, like less than a million bucks. To film an entire movie is not that much money. But this is also what I love about the story is that he filmed movie on a $750,000 budget. And then it's been out for a week. Two weeks.

[Eric]

Yeah, two weeks.

[Travis]

And it's done close to 100 million now.

[Eric]

Yeah. So yes. Well, I'll read the stats. But I was going to say, just on the comedy side, Sam Raimi, who did Spider man, his first movie was Evil Dead, which is. I've showed you trailers of that franchise still going. But his number one influence when they were making it was the Three Stooges, really. So like a lot of the Gags in that movie is like when they poke each other in the eyes. But then obviously, like in Evil Dead, it's a very gory version of those things. But it's so funny. Cause like, they're so obsessed about the Three Stooges and then they're just like, let's put it in a horror.

[Travis]

Do you think it's just like the reaction thing? Cause Anthony Justin made this observation about comedy on his podcast where he said basically like, all comedy is surprise. And that was like his premise that he was. Cause he asked another comedian that was on, do you agree with this? And she, she was kind of like, no, because it's also about this and that. He's like, but ultimately those things wouldn't exist without the surprise. It's about the shock. It's about the. You think we're going here, but instead we go there. And horror kind of follows the film, I think so.

[Eric]

I think it's just the visceral. Like the visceral response requires the action. I was just talking about that with the director I was talking to today is like. Cause he does horror comedy for a lot of his stuff. And I was like, more like gross out horror here and there. But it's like the most visceral response you can have is laughing or like screaming or jumping. You know what I mean? And so, I mean, that was interesting. That was such a cool thing with obsession is like there's moments. There was one moment in the movie that like, it teased you with that something's about to happen. And I wasn't like, there was actually a couple moments like that. And I literally was in my chair and the person next to me was doing the same thing. I literally was like sitting back in the recliner and I was kind of

[Travis]

like half covering the.

[Eric]

Like, I've seen enough movies to know they're telegraphing a huge jump scare. But what I loved was like, I felt all that and then they completely didn't do a jump scare. They just like kind of did this ending to the scene. And I was like, oh my God, they played on me so well. And I love that feeling when a movie actually gets me to go like, you know, same with suspense movies. Like when you're feeling that buildup, which Hitchcock's quote on that was suspense. Or he said, he said there's shock and then he said there's suspense. And suspense is basically when you have a bomb under the table and the audience knows it's there, but the character doesn't. And it's like that kind of feeling is so cool. And I feel like comedy's the same way where it's like, you know, this is gonna go badly for this character or, you know, they're gonna fall in this hole at a base level, but it's like, when's it gonna happen? And so I think there's like a good mix of those things happening with like the setting expectations and then either delivering in a crazy over the top way ye or totally diverting you to go like, oh, no one is going to pop up in the mirror. They're going to be somewhere else.

[Travis]

I saw him talk about that actually, because he was saying that he watches a lot of horror stuff, obviously for him to come out of the gate swinging with this one. But he said basically that he was trying to do the opposite of what most of those movies do, where he found himself with jump scares in particular, just coming to expect them. And then it wouldn't have the same effect because he knew that it was coming. And so he was like, I think a lot of people are feeling like that. So I wanted to make a movie where it was the visceral reactions weren't necessarily from the jump scares that are in the film. It was more about like the setting or this like insane thing that happened in the scene that made people kind of go like, oh, you know, versus, like, we're building it up. The music, you know, starts slowing down and gets really quiet and they're going around a corner and really slowly and it's like, oh, obvious jump scare. And like, would it still work? Yeah, it still works because.

[Eric]

But it feels cheap. It doesn't.

[Travis]

Yeah, it feels. It feels like low hanging fruit in comedy. Yeah. Where it's like, you could make that joke, but, you know, that's not the best version of what this could be.

[Eric]

Yeah, there was one. There was one scare in the movie that I was like, it. I was like, the way that they did it was so opposite of what I expected from the way that any other like, lo fi movie would do it. They'd be like, here it is, Boom. And the way that they did it wasn't a big jump, but it was so unsettling that you're like sitting there kind of like, oh, God, for like five minutes afterward. I think that's so cool.

[Travis]

But why is it that, like, it seems to me anyway. And this could again just be my ignorance. Speaking of this genre, here's a new

[Eric]

podcast, Travis tries horror. Travis watches horror movies.

[Travis]

It seems to me that whenever there's like a low Budget hit. It's almost always in the horror genre. Why?

[Eric]

I just think it's widely. It's action and horror just. I think the one, they're the cheapest to make. So, like, it's just something that you can get distributed pretty easily versus, like, here's a story about me working in a diner. You know, like, horror and action are super marketable. And then I also think too, like, horror, like, comedy is such a hard thing to do. Right. So I think you stand out. Like. Like the fact that, like, obsession. Like, I watch probably at least a horror movie a week. Like, I watch horror movies all the time.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Eric]

So, like, when a horror movie actually scares me, I'm like. It clocks. I'm like, oh, you're doing something that's just crazy unique. And, you know, so I think it's. I think it's like comedy where it's like when you watch a special and you laugh the whole time, you're like, what the hell? Like, how did they do that?

[Travis]

Right.

[Eric]

And it's like, I don't know. It's kind of crazy that way.

[Travis]

Yeah. I just love seeing more and more examples of really cool creators like this who are continuously blurring the lines between YouTube and Hollywood.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Travis]

Where it's like they do their YouTube. YouTube thing, but, like, the thing that makes them good at that thing also makes them good at this other thing.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Travis]

It's just that previously they didn't have access to funds or capital or they didn't. There's gatekeepers saying, like, no, you can't make a movie because you haven't done xyz.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Travis]

And now it's being. The opportunity is being afforded to more creative people to be able to step into that void and. And as a member of an audience, you know, because I just think that, like, some. It's sort of the, you know, snow globe effect where it's like when you're in the middle of it as like an executive at a movie studio, you can just get so caught up in the numbers and, you know, like the IP slop where it's just like, well, we just. We have a budget, we have certain amount of movies we can make. We gotta make movies that are gonna make the money back. So we have to bet. And I'm not even saying that they're wrong for doing that. It's just that as an audience member, you hope to see more from it. And so it's cool when you see somebody who's like, I wish that they would do more stuff like this and Then they get afforded the opportunity to bring that to life and they actually nail it to the degree of, like. I mean, what is that? What are the numbers?

[Eric]

Well, here. Yeah, I'll read it. This is from the Hollywood Reporter. So top studio execs have been shocked into a stupor by the performance of Obsession. I always love when studio execs are shocked and, like, here's a fiercely original movie that's really good. I can't believe people are watching it and not Thor 7.

[Travis]

You know, because they dropped so much money around things that are so much worse.

[Eric]

Right? Well, it's made for. It was made for $750,000, and then it was purchased by Focus Features at the Toronto International film festival for $15 million.

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[Eric]

Trading at Schwab is now powered by Ameritrade, bringing you an expanding library of education with even more ways to sharpen your trading skills. Access new online courses, insightful webcasts, articles, engaging videos, and more, all curated just for traders. Plus guided learning paths with content designed to fit your unique interests. No sifting to find exactly what you need so you can spend your time learning to trade brilliantly. Learn [e-mail] trading wow, that's a great day when you're like, I made this for a million and I just made 14. Obsession grossed 17 million domestically in its opening weekend.

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[Eric]

So made all its money back. Word of mouth was so strong that it was making around $3 million a day during the week. And during its second weekend, it made 23.9 million, a 39% increase, which I think Jason Blum, who runs Blumhouse, surprised he tweeted and said it was the first time for Blumhouse, Universal, Focus Features, and like, whatever the other production company that was, like, sharing the response to the film, he's like, none of us have ever released a film that did better the second weekend. And so that was huge. And then.

[Travis]

Which speaks to the quality of the product.

[Eric]

Yeah. So now it has. It's earned 62.3 domestically. He's already shot his next film for Focus and is in the editing phase. And he recently closed a deal to write and direct Texas chainsaw massacre for a 24, which, again, is one of those sentences that is just made for me.

[Travis]

That's so crazy.

[Eric]

Yeah. So it's nuts.

[Travis]

He's 26. 27.

[Eric]

Yeah, 26. And to keep with the creator thing, the A24 has another movie called the Backrooms that's coming out soon. That's a YouTube filmmaker, which it's tracking to open up to 45 to $50 million release. It's gonna be a 24's biggest debut ever if it goes that way. And then there was also. Oh, yeah, Markiplier did his film. $3 million budget, made $50 million. And so it literally, to me, as like, a film nerd, it feels like this is the closest we've gotten to the 70s era, where it's like Coppola and Lucas and Scorsese are all coming up as like, we're gonna shake up this boring system. I mean, you could say 90s with Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, but, like, the level of craft from, like, multiple different people is so cool. And the fact that, like, Markiplier's movie is probably the worst of this batch and it's still a really good movie is pretty crazy. Like, it's not like, oh, people, they have a big YouTube channel and people go support whatever. It's like, they're actually making really good movies.

[Travis]

Well, I think that proves because it's not related to the thing that they're taught. Like, Markiplier's like a gaming streamer. You know what I mean? And Curry Barker's a sketch comedy guy. It's like, well, those two audiences are probably not mixed, are probably not the same ones that are going and watching the film and telling all their friends to go watch it. The shareability is the crazy thing that it almost doubled what it did.

[Eric]

Well, I literally. My friend texted me, who's a fellow US Gen Zers, but he texted me and was like, have you seen this yet? And that word of mouth was already strong. He's like, I haven't watched a horror movie in theaters in a minute. He's like, this one's getting me. I was like, I'm on the way there right now getting ready to watch it. So I'm excited, and I'm excited for Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

[Travis]

Yeah, that's wild, man.

[Eric]

The end of Obsession. I won't spoil it. And this doesn't spoil it. If you think it. You know what I mean, you don't trust me. When I heard that they were gonna give him Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I was like, how stupid. I hate when studios just randomly are like, here, take all of our properties. And then I watched the last 20 minutes of Obsession, and I was like, yeah, he can do Texas Chainsaw. Give him more than Massacre. Give him more than. Yeah, well. And, yeah, again, I won't spoil it, but even in his original script, it was like. It was pretty much a Texas Chainsaw homage. But the way they did it was so creepy, and it was great.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Eric]

If you want to watch a creepy, scary movie, Obsessions in theaters right now.

[Travis]

Yeah, Yeah. I just love. I just love stories like this, man. It's so cool.

[Eric]

So go support it financially and watch it. Okay.

[Travis]

Okay.

[Eric]

Okay.

[Travis]

All right. You want to go?

[Eric]

Sure.

[Travis]

Jackie's probably going to be out on that one, so she would hate it.

[Eric]

If you don't. If you don't like horror, you're going to hate this movie.

[Travis]

All right, well, go support your creator, people in your life, and. And, you know, if you get the opportunity and you like the genre, go check out Obsession, which is in theater playing now. So anyway, that's it for this episode of the show. Remember, money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got some money in the bank. So let's start there, here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you next time.

[Eric]

Peace.