{
  "id": 4943609,
  "title": "Obsession lawsuit doggedly pursues alleged missing profits",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/01/obsession-lawsuit-doggedly-pursues-alleged-missing-profits",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-01T15:30:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The A.V. Club",
    "slug": "the-a-v-club",
    "url": "https://www.avclub.com/obsession-lawsuit"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Writer-director Curry Barker's Obsession, a \"be careful what you wish for\" tale of toxic obsession, was one of the biggest movie successes of 2026. Produced for under a million dollars, the indie film was acquired by Focus Features for $16 million and went on to earn over $500 million worldwide. Producer Leonora Ann Darby alleges in a California lawsuit that Tea Shop Productions, co-founded by James Harris and Mark Lane, reneged on an agreement to give her one-third of the film's net profits and participation in collection account arrangements. Darby asserts she also rescued the film from a contentious editing process, providing critical creative and structural input that enhanced the final product. The lawsuit claims Obsession's themes of misogyny and manipulation were mirrored in the production, with Darby alleging a seven-year pattern of unequal treatment and broken compensation promises by the older male producers towards her, a younger female producer whose contributions were crucial to the film's success. Darby was reportedly not invited to the Los Angeles premiere and denied public recognition for her artistic and financial contributions. Art director Sally Choi also claimed she received only around $7,000 for her work, with compensation not including gas mileage.",
  "summary": "A lawsuit by executive producer Leonora Ann Darby alleges she was shut out of the indie horror smash's $505 million box office haul.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}