Next Stop For GameStop, The Big Screen

Well, that didn’t take long.

A documentary about the recent events surrounding videogame retailer GameStop
GME
and the explosion of its stock is currently in production with Jonah Tulis (‘Console Wars’) helming. Dan Braun, Ben Braun, Matt Burke and Josh Braun of hybrid sales, production and distribution company Submarine will produce, along with Tulis, Blake J. Harris, and Circle of Confusion’s Julian Rosenberg, who produced ‘Console Wars.’

 The as-yet-untitled documentary will set out to tell the story of the power of ordinary investors that set the financial world abuzz, and feature many of the key players who believed in the value of GameStop and came together in chat rooms, on livestreams and in social media comments sections to kickstart what became an internet and financial revolution.

In January, a short squeeze resulted in a 1,500 percent increase in GameStop’s share price over the course of two weeks, reaching an all-time intraday high of $483 on Jan. 29. This effect was mainly attributed to a coordinated effort by the Reddit community r/wallstreetbets a subreddit dedicated to high-risk stock bets. Some trading platforms, including TD Ameritrade and Robinhood subsequently restricted trades on GameStop and other companies including AMC. The resulting stock rise of GameStop was enough for the SEC and the White House to begin monitoring the situation.

Six of the most influential and fascinating renegade investors involved in this David vs. Goliath tale will participate in the documentary exclusively. These unlikely characters include a Midwestern father of two whose contrarian research helped propel the internet’s big bet against Wall Street and an amateur investor whose previous career was rocked by Covid-19, so she put her life savings online and risked her fate on riding GameStop stock to the top.

 The film will also examine the phenomenon behind this financial coup that already has, and will likely continue to, send ripples through the global economy, while shining a spotlight on the human side of this real-life drama—revealing the ups, downs and unprecedented ramifications of this event. It’s a story about everyday people taking on the establishment and beating them at their own game.

 “When we approached Submarine about collaborating on this, it was an obvious fit with their long, storied experience in doc series and films” said Tulis, in a statement. “Our goal is to tell it through the eyes of the incredible men and women who risked it all—or ‘yolo’d’ as they like to say—making millions in the process and changing the landscape of the stock market forever.”

  The project is already in production and has funding in place. No timeline was given as to the when the film will be shot or released.

 Tullis’ most recent film, ‘Console Wars,’ was the first feature-length documentary for both CBS All Access and Legendary Television. An Official Selection of the 2020 SXSW Film Festival, the documentary took viewers back to 1990 when Sega, a fledgling arcade company, assembled a team of underdogs to take on the greatest video game company in the world, Nintendo. The film was executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as well as Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin.

 Submarine’s recent productions include ‘The Devil Next Door,’ ‘Lenox Hill’ and ‘Evil Genius.’ Recent and upcoming non-fiction series titles include “The Keepers,’ ‘Pick of the Litter,’ and ‘Wild Wild Country,’ which won the Emmy for Best Documentary Series in 2018.