One of the most interesting yet underrated mainstream genres is Stocks and Finance. These films are educational, portraying the reality of society. Many Brainy people earn millions within the local market, thinking about the global opportunities and risks. So, before you start investing, let’s see the top 50 movies that are successful examples.
1. Scam 1992 (2020)
Pratik Gandhi as Harshad Mehta is a full biographical tale of India’s Stock market Bull. It follows his involvement with the SBI in the largest financial scam of 1992. Along with real truths, consequences, and how the government handled the aftermath.
IMDb: 9.2/10 Platform: SonyLiv
2. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
The Titanic actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, as Jordan Belfort, is a classic Stock market trope. He starts as an entry-level Wall Street stockbroker, quickly rises to arrogant & wealthy status gets caught on the wrong side of the Federal government for crime & corruption.
IMDb: 8.2/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, Apple TV
3. Inside Job (2010)
Matt Damon’s “Inside Job” is a detailed documentary on the USA’s great financial fall of 2008. He provides an examination of all the elements, like the Mortgage, the Stock market, etc, that led to this collapse and economic recession.
IMDb: 8.2/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
4. The Big Short (2015)
The Big Short revolves around four brokers who discover the flaws and loopholes of the United States Mortgage market. They decide to play against a big bet, risking their lives. The film has an ensemble cast of Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt.
IMDb: 7.8/10 Platform: Netflix, Amazon Prime
5. Margin Call (2011)
An analyst discovers key information that can debunk major investment banks on Wall Street. Set in 24-hour immediate measures, the story follows how they retaliate against these serious mortgage problems just before the Great Depression catastrophe in 2008.
IMDb: 7/1/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, Netflix
6. Boiler Room (2000)
Following in his father’s footsteps, a student quits college and joins an investment firm. Soon, his accomplishments against his judgments align as he’s drawn into the world of greed and thirst for more wealth.
IMDb: 7.0/10 Platform: Netflix, Amazon Prime
7. Trading Places (1983)
The life of a street hustler and arrogant Wall Street broker gets reversed when they bet on the brokerage house of two millionaire brothers.
IMDb: 7.5/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, Apple TV
8. Too Big to Fail (2011)
The Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson quits his top job at Goldman Sachs and solves the ripples of the 2008 economic downturn. Sometimes, the failure of big conglomerates is too huge, which equals to collapse of the country.
IMDb: 7.2/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, JioHotstar
9. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
This financial documentary is based on the true events of Enron Corporation’s corrupt business. From being one of the wealthiest companies to suffering bankruptcy due to failed accounting and stock investments.
IMDb: 7.6/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, AppleTV
10. Wall Street (1987)
Based on the real life of Lou Stone, a stockbroker in the Great Depression. The story follows a young man willing to commit anything for the high life, gets lured into trading on illegal internal information, and a corporate espionage.
IMDb: 7.3/10 Platform: JioHotstar
11. Money (2019)
Cho Il Hyun aims to make it big in the stock industry, gets entangled with illegal insider purchases, and becomes wealthy. But at what cost, when his safety is in danger?
IMDb: 7.4/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
12. Rogue Trader (1999)
Rogue Trader is a true biography of an ambitious investment broker, Nick Leeson. He misuses authority and bankrupts Britain’s one of the valued Banks, “Barrings”. Thus sells the stocks in the thriving Asian market and flees the country.
IMDb: 6.4/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, Apple TV
13. Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)
Starring Michael Moore, the documentary delves into the successes & drawbacks of the USA’s capitalism. Thus, how enterprises trick the 95% population to satisfy their greed.
IMDb: 7.4/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
14. Dumb Money (2023)
Keith Gill’s life turns 360 degrees when his stock tips become a major blowup, and everyone’s dumb money makes them wealthy, until the billionaires retaliate.
IMDb: 6.9/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, SonyLiv
15. Arbitrage (2012)
A hedge fund manager decides to sell his trading business to a named bank before the government discovers his illegal practices, and ends up dealing with bad repercussions.
IMDb: 6.7/10 Platform: Netflix, Amazon Prime
16. The Hummingbird Project (2018)
Cousins Anton and Vincent aim to build their High-frequency Trading firm and make millions of dollars from stocks. They play a dangerous HFT game that changes the winning side by milliseconds of difference against their former boss.
IMDb: 6.2/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, Netflix
17. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
This is a sequel to the 1987 original Wall Street film. Gordon Gekko, imprisoned for stock market crimes, gets released after eight years. This time, he uses his daughter’s fiancé to take down his long Wall Street enemy and restore his empire.
IMDb: 6.2/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
18. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Glen Ross is the story of a real estate office that sends immediate notice to fire all their salesmen except the best two employees by the weekend. However, this crisis creates unity among the four brokers to join forces and take over the business.
IMDb: 7.7/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, Apple TV
19. Corporate (2006)
An ambitious Nishganda becomes caught between two major industrialists who are in a game to boost their already profitable businesses in the market, quite unethically.
IMDb: 6.6/10 Platform: SonyLiv
20. The Associate (1996)
Laurel is a smart investment banker struggling to find clients on Wall Street. When an undeserving white man gets promoted, she quits the job and starts her own firm. But this time, she pretends to have a white partner, Robert, who works in her favour.
IMDb: 6.2/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, Apple TV
21. The Trading Floor (2018)
The government officer, Anthony Yi, aims to manipulate the stock market with the help of some trade experts. So they create an artificial financial crisis and attain profits, but with internal betrayals and greed. The situation turns into chaos.
IMDb: 5.7/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
22. Share Baazar (1997)
The film revolves around poor Raj, who is manipulated to replace Seskhar as a part of a plan to exploit his shares and trap him as a scapegoat. But they fail as he exposes their financial practices and scams.
IMDb: 6.2/10 Platform: YouTube
23. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Chris Gardner is a struggling single parent with no home. Even though he works at a top brokerage firm, but its no pay. So both son and father live in shelters, enduring all hardships. Eventually, Chris learns tactics and becomes a good stockbroker.
IMDb: 8/10 Platform: Netflix, Amazon Prime, AppleTV
24. The Informant (2009)
Following a real incident, Mark Whitacre has a good career, but he decides to help the FBI in finding the price-fixing conspiracy. He wears a mike and brings down the Archer Daniels Midland Company, which is one of the major examples of whistleblowing.
IMDb: 6.5/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, Apple TV
25. How to Get Rich (2023)
This is more of a financial education and advisory program by Ramit Sethi. The show helps in making good investment decisions and helps individuals define their financial goals and make better decisions with strategies.
IMDb: 7.7/10 Platform: Netflix
26. The Scam (2009)
Hyeon Su has been investing in the stock market for five years with no luck. One day, he accidentally strikes a jackpot that gets him into an elite team performing Korea’s biggest scam of more than 60 million US dollars.
IMDb: 6.2/10 Platform: Netflix
27. Chasing Madoff (2010)
This eye-opening documentary is about the trader Bernie Madoff and his investment scams, which are revealed to the audience by the famous reporter Harry Markopolos.
IMDb: 6.2/10 Platform: Netflix, Amazon Prime
28. The Social Network (2010)
Of course, the movie is not Stock-centred. But crucial parts like Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, built the app with his friend Eduardo Saverin’s seed money for 30% shares. But they get diluted, & Saverin throws a major lawsuit for his part of ownership.
IMDb: 7.8/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, SonyLiv
29. Lucky Bhaskar (2024)
In the Lucky Bhaskar movie, Bhaskar is treated as an unfortunate and undervalued man in his family and workplace. He goes against the tides and invests in a risky money laundering investment during a very significant period, 1989-1992, that changed India’s Stock market world.
IMDb: 8/10 Platform: Netflix
30. The Big Bull (2021)
Just like Harshad Mehta’s life, we see stockbroker Hemant Shah exploiting the loopholes in the Banking system and becoming the next Big Bull in India’s stock market.
IMDb: 5.6/10 Platform: JioHotstar
31. Overhead (2009)
Jonny and Max are surveillance specialists assigned to investigate a firm’s illegal insider trading fall tempted by their greed as they discover its hidden valuable information.
IMDb: 7.1/10 Platform: MUBI, Tubi
32. Capital (2012)
An American hedge fund company is hellbent on buying a European investment bank. Now, the CEO has to try all his wits against deception, jealousy, and power play to stop the transaction from happening.
IMDb: 6.5/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, MUBI
33. The Goldfinger (2023)
Detective Lau is responsible for investigating the sudden market crash and falling stocks of the giant company ICAC. He uncovers a hidden criminal conspiracy by the owner.
IMDb: 6.2/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
34. Gafla (2006)
Sameer Hanchate’s masterpiece Gafla revolves around the stock market scam of 1992, of the imaginary character of Subodh Aka Vinod Sharawat.
IMDb: 7.4/10 Platform: YouTube
35. Le Sucre (1978)
A retired tax inspector, Adrien Courtois, invests all his wife’s inheritance and fortune in the increasing price of Sugar. But as the market collapses, his friend Adrien steps in to set things right.
IMDb: 6.3/10 Platform: MUBI, Apple TV
36. I am Tempesta (2018)
Tempesta is a charismatic businessman, but struck in his relentless need to succeed gets him into illegal activities and finally into a year-long community service. However, he is challenged to win his home back with one business deal, money.
IMDb: 5.8/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
37. Baazaar (2018)
Starring Saif Ali Khan and Radhika Apte in prominent roles. The film tells the story of a young stockbroker, Rizwan, who discovers the darker side of stockbrokerage and all the risks from his idol, Shaukan Kothari.
IMDb: 6.5/10 Platform: YouTube
38. Becoming Warren Buffett (2017)
From being a number-obsessed boy in Nebraska to legendary stock investor Warren Buffett has a very interesting life story. He is one of the important people on Wall Street.
IMDb: 7.5/10 Platform: Amazon Prime, JioHotstar
39. L’Eclisse (1962)
Victoria falls in love with a young stockbroker from Rome, their attraction grows into love, but often gets blocked because of his materialistic nature and limited intimacy.
IMDb: 7.7/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
40. Million Dollar Traders (2018)
A real-life experiment on twelve normal people. They are given two weeks of heavy training by a hedge fund manager and are now given the basic tools and knowledge to navigate the daily stock market with a virtual 1 million to trade for two months.
IMDb: 7.3/10 Platform: BBC
41. Wall Street Warriors (2006)
Each episode gives the audience a deeper glance into different phases of stock trading, right from traders, analysts, fund managers, and even entrepreneurs in the fast-paced and intense environment.
IMDb: 7.1/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
42. Barbarians at the Gate (1993)
Ross Johnson is the president of a large tobacco corporation called RJR Nabisco. As he declares to buy his own company. His competitor, Henry Kravis, gives him a hard time. Thus starts the battle of business tactics. So, who will win the firm?
IMDb: 7.2/10 Platform: Netflix
43. L’Argent (1983)
The film doesn’t directly deal with trading but shows the impact of how counterfeit bills originating from a schoolboy’s prank create major inflation due to their exact similarity.
IMDb: 7.4/10 Platform: MUBI
44. No More Bets (2023)
The film showcases the reality of how Chinese youngsters were promised high-paying jobs were forged passports, and got into foreign countries only for them to be trapped in prison, forced to work online, stocks, and gambling fraud.
IMDb: 6.8/10 Platform: Netflix
45. The China Hustle (2017)
This documentary is on the infamous Wall Street heist surrounding Chinese companies dominating the US stock market. It’s a potential crime that can affect every citizen.
IMDb: 7.1/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
46. Bubble Fiction: Boom or Burst (2007)
A female turns a washing machine into a time-travelling machine and gets sent into the past during 1990 to save Japan’s economy before its wealthy bubble bursts.
IMDb: 6.7/10 Platform: MUBI
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47. Scam 2003 (2023)
Coming from the blockbuster crew of Scam 1992, this standalone story is a biography of Abdul Telgi, who rose from an intelligent fruit seller to King of counterfeit stamp papers, which has once again created major inflation in stock markets and the government.
IMDb: 8.1/10 Platform: SonyLiv
48. L’Outsider (2016)
Jerome Kerviel rises from an anonymous broker to the king of stocks during the 2008 financial crisis, but his quick thinking is questioned for forgery and terrorism.
IMDb: 6.7/10 Platform: Amazon Prime
49. Money Monster (2016)
Gates became a Wall Street master after his successful television show Money Monster, except for one. Kyle Budwell takes him hostage because he lost all his savings to one of his stock trading tips. He with the TV producer figure out how to diffuse the situation.
IMDb: 6.5/10 Platform: Netflix
50. King of Stonks (2022)
Felix Armand is the man behind CableCash’s success, but his greed turns him into a big swindler, and he gets involved in all types of crimes, like money laundering and investor deception. Even manipulates stock prices to increase his power.
IMDb: 6.7/10 Platform: Netflix
Written By: Meghana Pinninti