The GameStop meme stock movie–say that five times fast–is set to release this fall. Sony Pictures showed off the first footage on Monday at CinemaCon 2023. The film sports a star-studded cast including Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, Dane DeHaan, Anthony Ramos, America Ferrera, and Nick Offerman.
The footage Sony offered gave a good overview of the story. Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), chief investment officer at Melvin Capital, is trying to buy the mansion next door to his–so that he can tear it down and build a tennis court–when he finds out about the GameStop stock’s skyrocketing value. A variety of characters ,including a medical professional played by America Ferrera, all have wildly over-the-top reactions.
Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman), the CEO of hedge fund manager outfit Citadel LLC, calls Plotkin, revealing that the skyrocketing stock is due to a YouTuber named Roaring Kitty, real name Keith Gill (Paul Dano), who is sporting the same long hair as his real-life counterpart in this clip. Plotkin asks Griffin, “Who is this schmuck?”
That, really, is enough to get you started on understanding the massive stock rally that came out of Reddit in 2021. Keith Gill was an office worker who moonlighted on YouTube as Roaring Kitty and on Reddit as DeepF***ingValue, played a major role in fueling a trading frenzy that caused the GameStop stock prices to soar to a peak of $482.95. Hedge fund managers had shorted the stock and were forced as a result to buy it back at any price. The rally cost hedge fund managers billions of dollars and sparked securities regulatory investigations that are still going on today even though the stock has dropped back down, as well as an interest in trading among amateur investors excited about so-called “memestocks.”
Dumb Money is being directed by Craig Gillespie, based on the book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich, who also wrote the books that spawned the films The Social Network and 21. The book was adapted for the screen by Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker. Dumb Money will be released in theaters on October 20, 2023.
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