A screen displays the logo and trading information for GameStop on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) March 29, 2022.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Last year’s GameStop meme stock phenomenon is making its way to the big screen, as “Saturday Night Live” alum Pete Davidson, “There Will Be Blood” actor Paul Dano, “Pineapple Express” star Seth Rogen and Marvel Cinematic Universe regular Sebastian Stan are set to star in “Dumb Money.”
A group of Reddit-based retail investors on the Wall Street Bets page boosted shares of GameStop in 2021 in an effort to hammer short-selling hedge funds.
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The ensuing meme-stock-mania resulted in sharp swings in the company’s share price, worrying Wall Street and recently impacting other retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond. Activist investor and meme stock king Ryan Cohen is chairman of GameStop and had bought more than 10% of Bed Bath’s stock before cashing out of the troubled home-good retailer.
“Dumb Money” is based on Ben Mezrich’s nonfiction book “The Antisocial Network,” which was published in September 2021. Previous Mezrich works include “The Accidental Billionaires,” which was adapted into the Oscar-winning Facebook movie “The Social Network,” and the MIT blackjack scandal book “Bringing Down the House,” which was adapted into the Kevin Spacey movie “21.”
A rights sale for “Dumb Money” is set to kick off this month at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, according to Variety.
“Dumb Money” will be directed by Craig Gillespie, who previously collaborated with Stan on his 2017 film “I, Tonya” and the Hulu series “Pam & Tommy.” Like “Dumb Money,” both of those projects focused on real-life events involving disgraced figure skating Olympian Tonya Harding, actress and model Pamela Anderson and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee.
Filming on “Dumb Money” is set to begin this month.