The American Dream Is Alive
Never let anyone tell you any different.
If you can think it, if you can dream it — and you put the work in — you can do it.
Just 31 months ago, Jordan Peele was one half of a hilarious sketch comedy duo on Comedy Central.
Today, he’s the second most famous director in human history and has just inked a deal with Universal Studios that is rumored to be in the nine-figure range.
Oh, you don’t believe me?
There it is. The data doesn’t lie, sports fans.
Peele is slightly above Spielberg and Hitchcock, only losing out to the most famous director of all time, Quentin Tarantino.
And yes, Big Brains, I’ve run the trends for many more directors including Lucas, Nolan, M. Knight, Kubrick, etc. No one comes close to the top four.
I just threw Scorsese in there for comparison. He’s a complete piker.
How Did This Happen?
Easy.
Peele’s first movie Get Out was not only a massive hit, grossing $176 million at the North American box office and $79 million globally against a $5 million budget, it was also a critical success as well.
The movie was seen by almost every critic as such deep cultural commentary that it even pushed Peele’s forced meme of “social horror” into the industry nomenclature.
Peele also won a Best Screenplay Academy Award for the film. Even Tarantino didn’t accomplish that on his first feature.
His sophomore outing, the Lupita Nyong’o fronted Us — a movie dubbed a “social thriller” — took in $255 million worldwide versus a $20 million budget.
It’s very bizarre that both of his movies made the exact same amount of money at the global box office.
That’s some kind of Crossroads-type shit right there.
In a statement, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Donna Langley unequivocally lauded Mr. Peele:
“Jordan has established himself as a premier voice and original storyteller with global appeal. He is leading a new generation of filmmakers that have found a way to tap into the cultural zeitgeist with groundbreaking content that resonates with audiences of all backgrounds.”
Timeout, Green Bay.
“Global appeal?”
He made $80 million overseas with each of his movies. That is hardly global.
Additionally, the fact that Us made the same amount of money as Get Out, even after the incredible response to that film, seems to hint at a ceiling for this social fiction.
Mrs. Langley continued:
“We also share an important goal with Monkeypaw when it comes to increasing representation onscreen in the characters that are portrayed, the stories that are told and the people who tell them.”
Ah, I see.
Young fools, only now at the end do you understand.
“The Post-Racial Lie”
What a jackass. Plus he sounds kind of dense. Not Ryan Coogler dense but still pretty much of a goofball just repeating echo chamber shibboleths.
Look, we need brave young filmmakers to challenge the status quo, to question the conventional wisdom, not to reinforce them.
It’s quite an indictment of current year Hollywood that an 89-year-old filmmaker is probably going to direct the most anti-establishment movie in wide release this year.
