Money Monster

Money Monster

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jodie Foster
Produced by
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Alan Di Fiore
  • Jim Kouf
Starring
Music by Dominic Lewis
Cinematography Matthew Libatique
Edited by Matt Chesse
Production
companies
Distributed by TriStar Pictures
Release dates
  • May 12, 2016 (2016-05-12) (Cannes)
  • May 13, 2016 (2016-05-13) (United States)
Running time
 99 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $27 million[2]
Box office $93.3 million[2]

Money Monster is a 2016 American thriller film directed by Jodie Foster and written by Alan Di Fiore, Jim Kouf and Jamie Linden. The film stars George Clooney (who also co-produced) as Lee Gates, a TV personality who advises his audience on commerce and Wall Street, and who is forcefully interrogated by Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell), a grief-stricken bankrupt viewer who lost his money after a previous tip; the film also stars Julia Roberts, Giancarlo Esposito, Dominic West and Caitriona Balfe.

Principal photography began on February 27, 2015 in New York City. The film was released by Sony Pictures Entertainment through TriStar Pictures on May 13, 2016, received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $93 million.[2][3]

Plot

Flamboyant television financial expert Lee Gates (George Clooney) is in the midst of airing the latest edition of his show, Money Monster. Less than 24 hours earlier, IBIS Clear Capital's stock inexplicably cratered, apparently due to a glitch in a trading algorithm, costing investors $800 million. Lee planned to have IBIS CEO Walt Camby (Dominic West) appear for a softball interview about the crash, but Camby unexpectedly left for a business trip in Geneva.

Midway through the show, a deliveryman wanders onto the set, pulls a gun and takes Gates hostage, forcing him to put on a vest laden with explosives.[4] He is actually Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell), who invested $60,000—his entire life savings, inherited from his deceased mother—in IBIS after Lee endorsed the company on the show. Kyle was wiped out along with the other investors. Unless he gets some answers, he will blow up Lee before killing himself. Once police are notified, they discover that the receiver to the bomb's vest is located over Lee's kidney. The only way to destroy the receiver—and with it, Kyle's leverage—is to shoot Lee and hope he survives.

With the help of longtime director Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts), Lee tries to calm Kyle and find Camby for him. Kyle is not satisfied when both Lee and IBIS chief communications officer Diane Lester (Caitriona Balfe) offer to compensate him for his financial loss. He also is not satisfied by Diane's insistence that the algorithm is to blame. Diane is not satisfied by her own explanation, either, and defies colleagues to contact a programmer who created the algorithm, reaching a man in Seoul named Won Joon (Aaron Yoo), who insists that an algorithm could not take such a large, lopsided position unless a human meddled with it.

Lee appeals to his TV viewers for help, seeking to recoup the lost investment, but is dejected by their response. New York City police find Kyle's pregnant girlfriend Molly (Emily Meade) and allow her to talk to Kyle through a video feed. When she learns that he lost everything, she viciously berates him before the police cut the feed. Lee, seemingly taking pity on Kyle, agrees to help his captor discover what went wrong.

Once Camby finally returns, Diane flips through his passport, discovering that he did not go to Geneva but to Johannesburg. With this clue, along with messages from Camby's phone, Patty and the Money Monster team contact a group of Icelandic hackers to seek the truth. After a police sniper takes a shot at Lee and misses, he and Kyle resolve to corner Camby at Federal Hall National Memorial, where Camby is headed according to Diane. They head out with one of the network's cameramen, Lenny, plus the police, and a mob of fans and jeerers alike. Kyle accidentally shoots and wounds producer Ron Sprecher (Christopher Denham) when Ron throws Lee a new earpiece. Kyle and Lee finally confront Camby with video evidence obtained by the hackers.

It turns out that Camby bribed a South African miners' union, planning to have IBIS make an $800 million investment in a platinum mine while the union was on strike. The strike lowered the mine's owners stock, allowing Camby to buy it at a low price. If Camby's plan had succeeded, IBIS would have generated a multibillion-dollar profit when work resumed at the mine and the stock of the mine's owner rose again. The gambit backfired when the union stayed on the picket line. Camby attempted to bribe the union leader, Moshe Mambo, in order to stop the strike, but Mambo refused and continued the strike causing IBIS' stock to sink under the weight of its position in the flailing mining company.

Despite the evidence, Camby refuses to admit his swindle until Kyle takes the explosive vest off Lee and puts it on him. Camby admits to his wrongdoing to Kyle on live camera. Satisfied with the outcome, Kyle gets shot by the police after throwing the detonator away, much to Lee's dismay. In the aftermath, the SEC announces that IBIS will be put under scrutiny and Camby on trial for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as Lee and Patty reveal at the hospital that Ron will survive the gunshot.

Cast

Production

Development

The project Money Monster was first announced by Deadline on February 7, 2012, when Daniel Dubiecki launched his own film production company, The Allegiance Theater. It would be the company's first produced film.[4] IM Global financed while Dubiecki produced, along with Stuart Ford.[4]

Alan Di Fiore and Jim Kouf wrote the script of the film.[4] On October 11, 2012, Jodie Foster was set to direct the film.[7] Lara Alameddine also produced the film.[8] The story was altered from its original script inspired by the stock market glitch and crash of Cynk Technologies.[9]

On July 25, 2014, TriStar Pictures won the rights to finance and release the film, whose latest draft was written by Jamie Linden.[10] Clooney and Grant Heslov also produced for their Smoke House Pictures.[10]

Casting

On May 8, 2014, it was announced that George Clooney was director Foster's choice to star in the film as a TV personality, Lee Gates, but the deal was not yet confirmed.[8] Clooney's involvement was confirmed in July 2014.[10] Jack O'Connell and Julia Roberts were added to the cast November 14, 2014 to star along with Clooney in the film.[11] Caitriona Balfe joined the cast of the film on January 29, 2015, to play the head of PR of the company whose stock bottomed.[12] Dominic West signed-on on February 25, 2015 to play the CEO of the company.[13] Christopher Denham also joined the cast, on March 4, 2015, to play Ron, a producer on the show.[14]

Filming

In October 2012, filming was scheduled to begin early 2013.[7] In July 2014, it was announced that production would begin after Clooney completed the Coen brothers' Hail, Caesar!,[10] and principal photography on the film began in New York City on February 27, 2015.[15][16][17]

Clooney was spotted on March 1 arriving at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Astoria, NYC to film scenes.[18] On April 8, filming began on Wall Street in the Financial District, Manhattan, where it would last for 15 days.[19] A scene was also shot in front of Federal Hall National Memorial.[19] Some re-shooting for the film took place in mid-January 2016 in New York City on William Street and Broad Street.[20]

Release

In August 2015, Sony Pictures Entertainment set the film for an April 8, 2016 release.[21] The film was later pushed back to May 13, 2016.[2]

Reception

Julia Roberts and George Clooney promoting the film at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Box office

As of September 17, 2016, Money Monster has grossed $41 million in North America and $52.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $93.3 million, against a production budget of $27 million.[2]

In North America, the film was projected to gross $10–12 million from 3,104 theaters in its opening weekend.[22] The film grossed $600,000 from its early Thursday night previews and $5 million on its first day.[23] It went on to gross $14.8 million in its opening weekend, beating expectations and finishing 3rd at the box office behind Captain America: Civil War ($72.6 million) and The Jungle Book ($17.1 million).[24]

Critical response

Money Monster has received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 58%, based on reviews from 231 critics, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Money Monster's strong cast and solidly written story ride a timely wave of socioeconomic anger that's powerful enough to overcome an occasionally muddled approach to its worthy themes."[25] Metacritic gives the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on reviews from 44 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[24] Reviews of America gave it an 8/10, commenting: "This movie could be better if it had been more realistic, and if it had been a little more interesting and fast-paced."[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "MONEY MONSTER (15)". British Board of Film Classification. May 3, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Money Monster (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Money Monster reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Fleming Jr, Mike (February 7, 2012). "'Up In The Air' Producer Launches The Allegiance Shingle With IM Global-Funded 'Money Monster'". deadline.com. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  5. ↑ WORTHINGTON, Clint, "Film Review: Money Monster" Consequences of Sound. Accessed 19 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Uyger, Cenk, "Yes, that's me in @MoneyMonster. I had two scenes. TYT crew went to see it last night.Go check it out! #MoneyMonster" (https://twitter.com/cenkuygur/status/731152759639019520) Accessed 19 May 2016.
  7. 1 2 Fleming Jr, Mike (October 11, 2012). "Jodie Foster To Direct 'Money Monster'". deadline.com. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Sneider, Jeff (May 8, 2014). "George Clooney Eyed to Star in Jodie Foster's Financial Drama 'Money Monster' (Exclusive)". thewrap.com. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  9. ↑ Worstall, Tim. "The Mystery Of Cynk Technology, No Assets, No Turnover And A $4.5 Billion Valuation". Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Fleming Jr, Mike (July 25, 2014). "TriStar Wins Auction For $30 Million Jodie Foster-George Clooney Pic 'Money Monster'". deadline.com. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  11. ↑ Sneider, Jeff (November 14, 2014). "'Unbroken's' Jack O'Connell, Julia Roberts in Talks to Join George Clooney in 'Money Monster'". thewrap.com. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  12. ↑ Kit, Borys (January 29, 2015). "'Outlander' Star Joining George Clooney, Julia Roberts in 'Money Monster' (Exclusive)". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  13. ↑ Fleming Jr, Mike (February 25, 2015). "'The Affair's Dominic West Joins 'Money Monster'". deadline.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  14. ↑ Kit, Borys (March 4, 2015). "'Manhattan' Star Joins George Clooney's 'Money Monster'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Clooney Watch 2015 is underway in NYC as 'Money Monster' begins filming". onlocationvacations.com. February 27, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  16. ↑ Brown, Laurel (February 27, 2015). "Quiet on the set! Jodie Foster bundles up for the cold as she directs the first day of filming for Money Monster in New York City". dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  17. ↑ "'Money Monster' Starring George Clooney Casting Call in NYC". projectcasting.com. February 25, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  18. ↑ Mizoguchi, Karen (March 2, 2015). "George Clooney arrives to set of Jodie Foster-directed movie Money Monster for his first day of filming". dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  19. 1 2 Plagianos, Irene (March 5, 2015). "George Clooney's 'Money Monster' Set to Film on Wall Street". dnainfo.com. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  20. ↑ "'Money Monster' reshoots happening in NYC this week". On Location Vacations. January 19, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  21. ↑ Kroll, Justin (August 5, 2015). "Sony Dates 16 Films Including Two More 'Bad Boys' Sequels, 'Jumanji' Remake". variety.com. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  22. ↑ Anthony D'Alessandro (May 9, 2016). "Why 'Captain America: Civil War' Is Poised To Be This Summer's Top-Grossing Live-Action Film: B.O. Postmortem". Deadline.com. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  23. ↑ "'Money Monster' Pulls In $600K While 'The Darkness' Lights Up $206K – Thursday Night Previews". deadline.com.
  24. 1 2 "'Captain America' In Control As 'Money Monster' Makes Some Cash And 'The Darkness' Finds Niche — Sunday B.O.". deadline.com.
  25. ↑ "Money Monster (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  26. ↑ "Money Monster". Reviews of America. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
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