Already, The GameStop ‘Meme Stocks’ Story Is Being Adapted To The Screen

Forget Godzilla vs. Kong; another earth-shaking brawl is playing out right now, between the behemoths of Wall Street and a group of random Redditors who really, really love the rocket emoji. 

Both Netflix and MGM are making moves on adapting this remarkable story to screen, despite the fact that the tale hasn’t quite reached its conclusion; we don’t yet know if a happy ending is in store for these risk-loving Redditors. 

Last week, I jokingly proposed that the GameStop story should be adapted into a sequel to The Big Short; it seems as though the entertainment industry was already on the case (although, we aren’t likely to see this complex situation broken down by Margot Robbie in a hot tub).

According to Deadline, Netflix is working on an untitled movie that explores how a single subreddit managed to send the price of GameStop soaring into the stratosphere, much to the horror of the hedge funds that profit from the death of corporations. Mark Boal, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Hurt Locker, is reportedly in talks to write the film.

Meanwhile, MGM is reportedly developing a similar project based on an unwritten book from author Ben Mezrich, having bought the rights to his book proposal, titled The Antisocial Network, which also tells the story of Wall Street being humbled by Redditors. 

Mezrich is no stranger to seeing his work adapted to screen; his 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires was adapted into David Fincher’s The Social Network, while his 2003 book Bringing Down the House was adapted into 21, a film which follows a group of intelligent, ambitious young people who master the art of cheating at the casino, for fun and profit (one can perhaps spy a slight resemblance to the GameStop story).

While the GameStop drama hasn’t yet reached its conclusion, multiple, contrasting narratives are already swirling around the story, as the media, the public, and Wall Street veterans attempt to put the unexpected events into context. 

For some, the GameStop story is a David vs. Goliath situation, with the underdogs of Reddit having managed to give Wall Street a bloody nose, a small slice of revenge for the 2008 crash depicted in The Big Short.

Indeed, several posts on the subreddit r/wallstreetbets directly reference the financial crisis of 2008; some claim that their actions are fueled, in part, by the disastrous fallout from that crash.  

But for others, the Redditors are reckless nihilists, with no respect for our, umm, extremely responsible financial institutions. On Twitter, the New York Times even described the amateur investors of Reddit as “perhaps propelled by a mix of greed and boredom.”

However, for the majority of onlookers with zero stakes in the game, the story is, above all, extremely funny.

It will be interesting to see how Netflix and MGM portray the situation; will they look at the box office success of Joker and seek to tell a similar tale of populist uprising? Or will they take the side of Wall Street, and preach the importance of stability?

Considering that Redditors also managed to boost the stock price of AMC theatres, perhaps the answer is obvious.