Movie adaptations happen real quick these days. Back in the day, a real-world event took at least a decade before it was moved to the big screen, but that window has shrunk and now Netflix and MGM are each dashing to be the quickest adapter of them all with a movie about the current GameStop stock situation.
Deadline reports that Netflix already has a creative team lined up to make its GameStop stock war film. Mark Boal is in talks to write, which would already give the film Oscar-winning clout as he penned both The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. As this is a war of a different kind, setting up Wall Street against “the little guy,” it’s a good choice. Noah Centineo, one of the hottest actors working right now and beloved by Netflix for his turn in the To All the Boys… series, is said to have a lead role in the film, though just what that will be isn’t clear.
Netflix isn’t leaving this GameStop stock movie in the hands of a screenwriter who doesn’t know much about stocks, however. It’s also bringing in Scott Galloway, an activist/journalist, New York University professor, host of the podcast Pivot, and tech expert, to advise on the screenplay.
MGM is also looking to get a film out about the whole GameStop stock debacle, though it doesn’t seem as far along. The studio has optioned an upcoming proposed book on the event by Ben Mezrich, who wrote the book The Social Network was based on. Optioning a not-yet-written book seems to be the slow way to go about this, so it’s highly likely we’ll see the Netflix film well before MGM’s. That may mean MGM’s never gets off the ground, depending on if it thinks it can maneuver its film differently or not.
Reportedly, the Netflix film will not just focus on the GameStop stocks but use that as a jumping point for the power of social media to disrupt systems for both good and bad. That may give MGM some wiggle room to release a more focused film on the subject. Whatever the outcome, at least this will give the world another good stock movie to watch other than The Big Short.
