In case you missed it, the investment world has been going just a bit nuts in recent weeks due to the actions of small traders and Reddit users. In simple terms, while hedge funds have essentially been betting against companies like GameStop and AMC Theatres in recent months, stock buying frenzies have caused values to skyrocket, and as a result said hedge funds have been hit hard. This has caused wide spread debates about regulation and all kinds of drama – and if you're having a difficult time keeping track of all of it, we have some good news: the whole ordeal is going to be getting its own movie.
It may seem like this is happening crazy fast, and that's because it is. This development has been set in motion specifically because, per Deadline, MGM has won the film rights to a book proposal by author Ben Mezrich called The Antisocial Network. Obviously the book doesn't exist yet, but Mezrich started shopping it last week, and MGM made a move to acquire late on Friday.
The title of the developing project is certainly ironic, as in its own way it reflects Ben Mezrich's history in Hollywood. In 2009 the author published The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal – a deep investigation into the creation of the world's biggest social medial hub – and a little over a year later his work was turned into a movie with a different name: The Social Network.
That being said: how funny would it be if the adaptation of The Antisocial Network was titled The Accidental Billionaires instead? It's perhaps not a perfect fit for the story being told, but it would be a weird twist.
What's unclear at this stage is how exactly the story of the GameStop Wall Street chaos will actually come together as a film. The principal protagonists and antagonists in The Accidental Billionaires was pretty straight forward for screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher in The Social Network, and they had a full book to work from when they signed on to make the movie. So who will emerge as the central players here? The fact that it's all still unfolding most definitely prevents us from having a full perspective on it, but that's surely something that Ben Mezrich is keeping a close eye on here, and in a few years we may get the chance to see them played by some major A-listers.
This project is obviously in its infancy, but it could gain a lot of steam quickly if some interesting filmmakers get involved. It sounds like it could be a cool spiritual sequel to Adam McKay's The Big Short, but we'll just have to wait and see how it comes together.
