GameStop stocks movies: New competitor joins Netflix and MGM

Netflix and MGM have been rushing to adapt the GameStop stocks short squeeze into movies — but a new challenger has appeared.

Pinky Promise is developing a limited TV series based on the GameStop short squeeze titled To The Moon (thanks, IGN). The group, described as an “industry newcomer” by Deadline, has already spoken with several popular members of the /r/WallStreetBets subreddit, hedge funds and other prominent figures in stock trading.

Here’s a blurb about the show from Deadline’s exclusive:

“The series is the multi-narrative, rip-roaring story of the r/wallstreetbets people’s rebellion against cynical hedge funds. To The Moon follows two roommates laid off from their jobs at GameStop and AMC, who turn COVID into lemonade by using their stimulus checks to dip into the world of day trading. It’s The Big Short meets Reddit, in this chronicle of the movement that grabbed Wall Street by the wallet and chucked it all the way to the moon.”

This is right on the heels of MGM snatching up the rights for a book proposal on the squeeze. Not to be outdone, Netflix is also working on a film about the squeeze starring Noah Centineo.

If the whole GameStop saga and all the meme-y language like stonks and tendies is still confusing to you, I don’t blame you. It’s a story that requires esoteric knowledge of both the stock trading and the nerdiest corners of Reddit.

So here’s the simplest possible explanation. GameStop is a video game retail company that has been slowly dying for years and its death crawl has only gotten worse during the pandemic. Without getting into the details, Wall Street hedge funds and investors were actually profiting off of GameStop’s failing stocks. A bunch of amateur traders on Reddit (specifically /r/WallStreetBets) discovered a flaw in Wall Street’s plan and attacked by buying up as much GameStop stocks as they could.

This caused GameStop’s stock price to skyrocket since the only factor you need to raise a stock’s value is a bunch of people buying it at the same time. By doing this, the average joes at Reddit have already cost Wall Street billions of dollars in losses. Reddit and Wall Street have been locked in a stock market stand-off ever since, with both sides refusing to sell.

GameStop’s stock prices have finally been normalizing, but as /r/WallStreetBets itself has declared, this war against Wall Street is far from over. The traders at Reddit have been hard at work exploring other opportunities to attack Wall Street where it hurts.

It’s tempting to frame this situation as a David vs. Goliath narrative, and indeed, that’s exactly how many talking heads and news outlets have described it. But the truth probably isn’t that simple.

Still, it has clearly made for a great story.

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If you enjoyed this story, check out when GameStop held a TikTok contest where employees competed for more working hours.

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