The GameStop saga is coming to the big screen as Dumb Money, and Sony just bought it.
According to Deadline, Sony Pictures has secured the rights to Dumb Money – the upcoming GameStop movie starring Seth Rogen, Paul Dano, Sebastian Stan, Pete Davidson, and Shailene Woodley. Apparently, more casting choices will be revealed soon.
“Dumb Money is a classic David-vs.-Goliath tale about how Wall Street was beaten at its own game,” said Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group president, Josh Greenstein. “It’s a story of our time and the story is timeless. We are excited to be working with Craig, who is a world-class filmmaker.”
Dumb Money is based on Ben Mezrich’s book The Antisocial Network and will tell the story of those who made and lost fortunes overnight during the GameStop stock market short squeeze that made headlines back last year.
The unprecedented squeeze began when redditors on r/WallStreetBets began squeezing short sellers of GameStop stock, with some users reporting huge wins after going all in.
“I had seen the subreddit in some YouTube video after I got into trading but was only doing my own thing until this GME stuff really started to pop off and I bought in,” said one trader.
Another, known as u/DeepFu*kingValue, saw their option valued as high as $13 million.
The film will reportedly offer an “irreverent and scathing portrait” of how this loosely affiliated group of hobbyist investors managed to crush one of the biggest hedge funds on Wall Street – for a short while, at least.
Sony reportedly purchased the movie for around $20 million which includes the rights for North America, Latin America, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, South Africa, India, and “a handful of Asian markets”.
“We have long been a fan of Craig Gillespie’s work and it’s fitting that the studio that brought you The Social Network gets the Anti-Social Network, plus we get to be in business once again with stellar producers Teddy Schwarzman and Aaron Ryder,” added Sony Pictures Head of Worldwide Acquisitions, Joe Matukewicz.
It’s thought that Sony’s commitment to providing a theatrical release was a major factor in the deal being accepted.
Dumb Money will be directed by Craig Gillespie with a script by Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum. Aaron Ryder, Teddy Schwarzman, and Gillespie are on board as producers.
Want to read more about the GameStop saga? Find out what happened during the GameStop short squeeze as well as why the hobbyist investors went big to back the faltering video game store.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/dumb-money-sony-buys-rights-to-movie-about-the-gamestop-stock-market-saga