Craig Gillespie’s comedy-drama Dumb Money starts its three-step platform release this weekend courtesy of Sony, opening in eight theaters in LA, NY, Chicago, DC, Boston and San Francisco ahead of an expansion next week and a Sept. 29 wide release. Gillespie (I, Tonya, Lars and the Real Girl) saw lots of love in Toronto for the premiere of his tale of meme stocks, retail traders, riches and battles won and lost. Opening week cinemas include AMC Century City and The Grove (LA); AMC Lincoln Square, Regal Union Square (NY); AMC River East (Chicago); AMC Georgetown; AMC Boston Commons; and AMC Metreon (San Francisco).
The David and Goliath story is that of a phenomenon that exploded in 2021 where ordinary people surged into the market backing specific stocks, pounded them on social media and flipped the script on Wall Street as other piled in. They turned GameStop into the world’s hottest stock for a period, (and also saved movie theater chain AMC Entertainment from bankruptcy).
Paul Dano stars as Keith Gill, a lowly financial analyst in Boston who has a nerdy internet show at night where he talks about stocks. Gill sank his life savings into GameStop and began talking and posting about it. When the posts explode, so does his life and the lives of his online followers. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich until the billionaires fight back and both sides find their worlds turned upside down. Deadline review here. And see Gillespie’s interview with Deadline yesterday.
Also stars Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley and Seth Rogen. Written by Lauren Schuker Blum Rebecca Angelo, based on the book “The Antisocial Network” by Ben Mezrich.
Produced by Aaron Ryder, Teddy Schwarzman and Craig Gillespie. Executive producers Michael Heimler, John Friedberg, Andrew Swett, Johnny Holland, Ben Mezrich, Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Kevin Ulrich.
Moderate release: Roadside Attractions presents family comedy Camp Hideout on 848 screens. Directed by Sean Olsen, starring Corbin Bleu as a troubled teen who nearly gets caught stealing a top-secret gadget from some big city thugs. After barely escaping, he decides to hide out at a summer camp that’s run by the eccentric Falco and counselors Jake and Selena. As Noah tries to blend in with the rest of the rowdy campers, his crooked partners show up to steal the classified item, now in his possession. The pic targets the general family audience and faith audience that showed up for the distributor’s Family Camp last year.
Blue Fox Entertainment presents stop-motion animated adventure The Inventor by Jim Capobianco and Pierre-Luc Granjon, at 700 locations. Starring Daisy Ridley, Marion Cotillard and Stephen Fry, it follows famed inventor and artist Leonardo da Vinci after he leaves Italy for France. In his new country, da Vinci joins the French court, where he experiments with flying contraptions, invents machines and studies the human body, all in an attempt to answer the question: “What is the meaning of life?”
Outlaw Johnny Black from Samuel Goldwyn Films, written and directed by, and starring, Michael Jai White, opens on 309 screens nationwide including AMC CityWalk, AMC Burbank 8, Alamo Drafthouse DTLA, Cinepolis Inglewood and Laemmle NoHo in LA. In NY, Regal Union Square, Regal Excess Crossing, Alamo Manhattan, AMC Empire AMC MJ Harlem. The film has an interim agreement and White has been promoting it quite heavily, including an appearance on Good Morning America. Hell bent on avenging the death of his father, Johnny Black vows to gun down Brett Clayton and becomes a wanted man in the process while posing as a preacher in a small mining town that’s been taken over by a notorious Land Baron.
Limited Release: Amazon presents Cassandro by Ross Williams at 61 theaters Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Saul Armendariz, aka Cassandro, the first openly gay wrestler in the ultra-macho sport of Mexico’s Lucha Libre. The narrative feature film debut of documentarian Roger Ross Williams (Life Animated). Premiered at Sundance, Deadline review here.
Magnolia Pictures opens doc Invisible Beauty at Film Forum, expanding next week to DC, Chicago, LA and Atlanta. A memoir of fashion pioneer Bethann Hardison, a Black model, modeling agent and entrepreneur. Now in her 70s, the Brooklyn native takes stock of her own legacy at a moment when the fashion industry was shaken by discrimination. Frédéric Tcheng and Hardison trace her impact on fashion from runway shows in the 1970s to roundtables on racial diversity in the early 2000s. Featuring Iman, Tyson Beckford, Tracee Ellis Ross, Zendaya, Fran Lebowitz, Pat Cleveland, Naomi Campbell and Stephen Burrows. Premiered at Sundance.
Yellow Veil Pictures presents drama Rebel by Belgian directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah in NYC/IFC Center, hitting the Nuart in LA next weekend. The Moroccan-born directors wrote the script along with Jan Van Dyck and Kevin Meul, premiering it at Cannes, Midnight Section. Stars Aboubakr Bensaihi, Lubna Azabal, Amir El Arbi, Tara Abboud and Younes Bouab.
Kamal resolves to change his life, leaving Belgium to help war victims in Syria. But once arrived he’s forced to join a militia and stranded in Raqqa. Back home, his younger brother Nassim becomes easy prey for radical recruiters, who promise to reunite him with his brother as their mother fights to protect her youngest son.
Radical Wolfe from Kino Lorber opens at the IFC Center in NY with director Richard Dewey and writer Michael Lewis appearing for in person Q&As tonight. Author Tom Wolfe (The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities) is the subject of the doc, an adaptation of a 2015 Vanity Fair article by Moneyball and The Big Short author Michael Lewis, who was a longtime personal friend of Wolfe.
Oscilloscope Laboratories presents Canary in NYC, Los Angeles, and Columbus, OH Friday followed by one-night-only special event screenings on Wed., Sept. 20 nationwide in markets including NYC, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Washington, D.C., Boston, San Francisco, Phoenix, Seattle, Tampa, Miami, Denver and Minneapolis. Directed by Grammy-nominated director and Chef’s Table vet Danny O’Malley along with MIT-trained neuroscientist Alex Rivest, this is the life story of Dr. Lonnie Thompson, an explorer who transformed our idea of what is possible by seeking knowledge of Earth’s history in glaciers atop the tallest mountains in the world and the frontline of climate change.
Paramount presents Lift by David Petersen, a doc that follows children impacted by homelessness who discover self-expression through dance, in 22 theaters. Misty Copeland is executive producer and principal advisor. Featuring Steven Melendez (Principal Artist and Artistic Director of NYTB), Diana Byer (Founder and former Artistic Director of NYTB), Victor Abreu (LIFT Dance Student, Member of New York City Ballet’s corps de ballet.