‘The Big Short’ Tries To Make 2008 Financial Crisis Fun To Watch

“The funny thing is, when they bought the movie rights to the book, all of us said there is no way they will ever make a movie of this,” said Collins, who’s now a portfolio manager at Seawolf Capital LLC in New York. “It’s a complicated story and our lives just aren’t that exciting.”

Hollywood has tackled financial-market tales from many angles. “Margin Call,” the 2011 film starring Kevin Spacey and Demi Moore about the looming collapse of an investment bank, was a well-received drama. Yet it generated less than $20 million in ticket sales worldwide, according to researcher Box Office Mojo. The Wall Street documentary “Inside Job” won an Oscar in 2011.

One of the most successful was Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” in 2013, which focused on the personal excesses of penny stock trader Jordan Belfort and his associates, including lavish parties, sex and drug use. Oliver Stone’s 1987 hit “Wall Street,” featuring Michael Douglas as the scheming Gordon Gekko, is a cult favorite and one of the top-grossing finance-related movies, according to Rentrak Corp.

Of those focused on the 2008 crisis, “The Big Short” is the most commercial so far. The Screen Actors Guild has nominated the film for its equivalent of best picture, raising the prospects for an Oscar nomination. On Thursday, the film garnered four Golden Globe nominations, including one for best comedy or musical.

Bale plays Michael Burry, the founder of Scion Capital Group and an early investor to short sub-prime mortgages. A short is a bet that the value of a security will decline. Steve Carell plays Mark Baum, based on a real-life fund manager at FrontPoint, a hedge fund that also makes that bet. Gosling plays the fictional Jared Vennett and serves as narrator, sometimes speaking directly to the audience.

Collins, from Seawolf Capital, describes the film as accurate. He especially liked watching Bourdain explain collateralized debt obligations. Lewis and Adam McKay did a great job making “a dry subject pretty interesting,” he said.

“The Big Short” will expand to theaters nationwide on Dec. 23. Like other films released at that time, it will face tough competition for moviegoers’ attention. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opens Dec. 18 and is expected to be one of the biggest movies ever.

To Collins, “The Big Short” gives movie fans an opportunity to understand the financial market events that led to the Great Recession.

“It’s not going to win the feel-good movie of the year,” he said. “It’s a dark subject. The system, and how corrupt it was.”