“Us” was the box office hit that gave Jordan Peele real power in Hollywood

The lessons here, for my money, are quite clear. First, it’s incredible that Jordan Peele stuck to his guns and bet on himself in the wake of the success of “Get Out.” Sure, he had offers to take on big, flashy franchise projects. Heck, he could have made an “Akira” movie but turned it down because, as he put it, “At the end of the day, I want to do original stuff.” So do many other filmmakers, but he was given the platform to do so.

“Us” kept Peele’s hot streak alive, and in the years since, he has never invested more in original stories, whether his own or from other filmmakers. Even when he touches on IP, as with “Candyman,” he invests in original voices, in this case Nia DaCosta. Not only has Bill used his success to continue telling original stories for himself, but he has leveraged that success to help promote more stories that might not have otherwise seen the light of day. Or, at the very least, they wouldn’t have the status they did when Bale joined the team. This is not just power, it is using one’s power for good.

Bale could have done the easy thing by making a sequel to “Get Out” or another movie in the “Us” universe, and it seems he took at least those two things into consideration. But he resisted the obvious choice at every turn, and instead did something unexpected that still managed to generate profit for everyone involved.

Perhaps, in another world, we could talk about Jordan Peele in the same way we talked for a while about M. Night Shyamalan, desperate to rediscover the man who made The Sixth Sense. Bale avoided a meltdown from the highest levels and it was “Us” that showed critics and audiences alike that he was more than just a trick pony. It was just one of many scams to come.