It used to be that film companies would wait at least until the dust had settled on an unfolding news story before starting to develop movies on the subject. Welcome, though, to the world as it is today, where the clock is ticking as soon as something breaks. And a key example of that is the GameStop Reddit share story, which both MGM and Netflix are now eyeing for film treatment, even as it evolves.
It all started when a group of rag-tag investors from the Wall Street Bets Subreddit banded together to put the squeeze on at least two hedge funds that had bet that GameStop shares would fall. The hedge funds had been shorting GameStop’s shares, betting that its stock was doomed to further decline, these amateur investors led by the Reddit page began pushing the other way, buying shares and stock options. That caused GameStop’s market value to increase rise over 1700% since December. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, the market value rose over $10 billion.
The fun didn’t stop there as more newcomers to the stock game began looking at other stocks deemed obsolete or super low like Nokia and AMC to try and do the same resulting in a major controversy when the trading app RobinHood began putting restrictions on certain stocks...
MGM has set its sights on a book proposal from author Ben Mezrich, who has form with social media stories after his tome The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding Of Facebook, A Tale Of Sex, Money, Genius And Betrayal fuelled The Social Network. And it's perhaps no coincidence that MGM's Michael DeLuca produced the Facebook film.
Netflix, meanwhile, has Zero Dark Thirty writer Mark Boal in negotiations to work on a script for its own take on the story, and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before's Noah Centineo is already attached to play one of the main roles.
Now the question is, which of the two will make it out of the cine-gates first...