Remember a couple of years ago when GameStop went from being the place where you went to buy the latest video game releases and those exclusive horror Pop! vinyl figures to the epicenter of one of the most absurd stock market stories in recent memory? Well, get ready because the “GameStonk” saga is getting the big-screen treatment with Dumb Money, a star-studded chronicle of the “David vs. Goliath” battle between amateur investors and some of the biggest hedge funds on the planet.
In a few short months, we’ll all get to see the hard-to-believe story that turned the struggling brick-and-mortar gaming store into one of the most-used names of 2021, brought disorder to Wall Street, and introduced many, many memes. From the release date to its trailer and so much more, here’s everything we know about Dumb Money.
What Is The Dumb Money Release Date?
Dumb Money will open in theaters on September 22, 2023, which is quite the turnaround, considering the situation on which it is based took place in early goings of 2021, a little over two years before release. The movie was originally given an October 30th theatrical debut, but the picture was moved up by more than a month as part of Sony Pictures calendar shift in June, as announced by The Hollywood Reporter.
The Dumb Money Cast Includes Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Seth Rogen And More
Similar to other movies about major financial events like those covered in The Big Short and major shifts in the power of social media like The Social Network, the Dumb Money cast is as massive as it is talented.
At the center of the cast is Paul Dano, who will be playing Keith Gill, the financial analyst who took to the WallStreetBets Reddit page at the start of the whole “GameStonk” saga, Sony Pictures has announced. According to Entertainment Tonight, Pete Davidson, whose Bupkis series was just picked up for a second season, will be taking on the role of Gill’s brother, Kevin. But that is just a small portion of the actors set to appear.
Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, and Vincent D’Onofrio all appear as high-profile investors on the other side of the GameStop situation, with Sebastian Stan coming in to portray Robinhood co-founder Vlad Tenev. The cast also includes America Ferrera, Shailene Woodley, Anthony Ramos, and multiple others.
The Dumb Money Trailer Teases The Movie’s ‘David Vs. Goliath’ Story
If you were to take the opening lines of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” – and combine that with the story of “David vs. Goliath,” then you would have the basic premise and tone of the Dumb Money trailer. In June 2023, a little more than three months before the movie’s late September release, Sony Pictures debuted the shocking, wild, and extremely funny three-minute trailer showing what the movie is all about.
While Paul Dano’s character is making millions of dollars every single day of the “GameStonk” craze, Seth Rogen’s uber-rich investor is losing billions the longer the whole situation goes on. And when the rich and powerful start to lose their cash, you know what happens, or at least that is what’s teased in the trailer.
Dumb Money Follows A Group Of Amateur Investors Who Turn GameStop Stock Into One Of The Biggest Financial Stories In Recent Memory
When Dumb Money opens in theaters this September, it will follow Keith Gill as he inadvertently kicks off one of the most exciting and perplexing sagas in the history of Wall Street, specifically the craze surrounding the GameStop stock situation that was inescapable, both for investors and pretty much anyone with access to the internet and TV in early 2021.
According to the official synopsis from Sony Pictures, the movie is the ultimate “David vs. Goliath” tale, and will center on Gill and the investors that followed his advice to make a killing off stock several major billionaire investors were trying to short and further grow the wealth of their clients and increase their own net worth. This will put the two groups on a collision course that will have major ramifications for everyone involved, eventually going as far as Capitol Hill in an attempt to make sense of the whole situation.
Dumb Money Is Based on The Book The Antisocial Network
Much like The Social Network, which was based on Ben Mezrich’s 2009 non-fiction book, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, the upcoming Dumb Money movie is based on one of the New York Times bestselling author’s works. Released in 2021, just months after the “GameStonk” story became a major news and cultural story, Mezrich released The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees.
The book, which is available from online retailers like Amazon, spends more than 300 pages breaking down virtually every aspect of the whole saga, spending a considerable amount of time with the major players on both sides of the situation. From the days of WallStreetBets being seen as nothing more than a group of online pranksters to a coalition that caused hedge funds to lose a lot of money overnight, Mezrich’s chronicle leaves no stone unturned.
Pam & Tommy Director Craig Gillespie Helms Dumb Money
Dumb Money is helmed by Craig Gillespie, who directed three of the eight episodes that made up the Hulu original series, Pam & Tommy. Interestingly enough, this means that Gillespie reunited with Sebastian Stan, Seth Rogen, and Nick Offerman who starred as Tommy Lee, Rand Gauthier, and Uncle Mike, respectively, on the 2022 true crime show.
Gillespie’s previous work includes I, Tonya (also featuring Stan in a major capacity), Disney’s live-action Cruella, Hulu’s Mike, and several other high-profile film and TV projects over the years, dating back to 2007’s Mr. Woodcock starring Seann William Scott and Billy Bob Thornton.
The movie was adapted to screen by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, who previously worked together on Orange is the New Black and Wolfman.
Will Dumb Money end up following the footsteps of The Social Network and The Big Short and win some of the big prizes at the 2024 Academy Awards? Only time will tell. But while we wait for the movie (and any potential awards nominations), check out our 2023 movie schedule to get all caught up on everything coming to the big screen.
