51 Best Movies for Entrepreneurs Must Watch
Walt Before Mickey (2015)
Director: Khoa Le
Starring: Thomas Ian Nicholas, Armando Gutierrez, Jon Heder
Synopsis: The film covers Walt Disney’s early years in business, during which he started various businesses including Laugh-O-Gram Studio and The Walt Disney Company with fellow animator Ub Iwerks and his brother, Roy Disney.
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Director: James Mangold
Starring: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal, CaitrÃona Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Noah Jupe, Remo Girone, and Ray McKinnon
Synopsis: The plot follows a determined team of American and English engineers and designers, led by automotive designer Carroll Shelby and his British driver, Ken Miles, who are hired by Henry Ford II and Lee Iacocca to build a race car to defeat the perennially dominant Italian racing team Scuderia Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France.
Air (2023)
Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, and Viola Davis.
Synopsis: The film is based on true events about the origin of Air Jordan, a basketball shoe line, of which a Nike employee seeks to strike a business deal with rookie player Michael Jordan.
BlackBerry (2023)
Entrepreneur: Douglas Fregin and Mike Lazaridis, and Jim Balsillie
Director: Matt Johnson
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Matt Johnson, Rich Sommer, Michael Ironside, Martin Donovan, Michelle Giroux, SungWon Cho
Synopsis: A company that toppled global giants before succumbing to the ruthlessly competitive forces of Silicon Valley. This is not a conventional tale of modern business failure by fraud and greed. The rise and fall of BlackBerry reveals the dangerous speed at which innovators race along the information superhighway.
Risky Business (1983)
Director: Paul Brickman
Starring: Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay
Synopsis: Trustworthy son Joel Goodsen, an industrious, college-bound Chicago high school senior struggling to live up to his parents’ expectations, has more than enough on his plate. But when mum and dad go off on vacation, the inexperienced teenager seizes the golden opportunity to live a little: Joel breaks one rule after another, indulging his wide-eyed curiosity and unspoken desires. And now, there’s no turning back–Joel’s risky business has already thrown his life into complete disarray. What happens if Joel’s parents return home earlier than expected? Will Joel learn a thing or two about life, consequences, and love?
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
Entrepreneur: Preston Tucker
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Martin Landau, Elias Koteas, Frederic Forrest, Christian Slater, Don Novello, Nina Siemaszko, Mako, Dean Stockwell, Lloyd Bridges
Synopsis: The film recounts Tucker’s story and his attempt to produce and market the Tucker 48, which was met with scandal between the Big Three automobile manufacturers and accusations of stock fraud from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019)
Entrepreneur: William Kamkwamba
Director: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maxwell Simba, Aïssa Maïga, Lily Banda, Robert Agengo
Synopsis: Against all the odds, a thirteen-year-old boy in Malawi invents an unconventional way to save his family and village from famine. Based on the memoir of the same name by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Director: Frank Darabont
Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, and James Whitmore
Synopsis: Based on the 1982 Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The film tells the story of banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders of his wife and her lover, despite his claims of innocence. Over the following two decades, he befriends a fellow prisoner, contraband smuggler Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman), and becomes instrumental in a money laundering operation led by the prison warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton).
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, and James Brolin
Synopsis: Barely 17 yet, Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. FBI agent Carl becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man, who only revels in the pursuit.
Limitless (2011)
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Andrew Howard, Anna Friel
Synopsis: It follows Edward Morra (Bradley Cooper), a struggling writer who is introduced to a nootropic drug called NZT-48, which gives him the ability to use his brain fully and to improve his lifestyle vastly.
Gold (2016)
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Édgar RamÃrez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell, Craig T. Nelson, Stacy Keach, Bruce Greenwood
Synopsis: Kenny Wells, a prospector desperate for a lucky break, teams up with a similarly eager geologist and sets off on a journey to find gold in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia. The film is loosely based on the true story of the 1993 Bre-X mining scandal when a massive gold deposit was supposedly discovered in the jungles of Indonesia; however, for legal reasons and to enhance the appeal of the film, character names, and story details were changed.
Nightcrawler (2014)
Director: Dan Gilroy
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton
Synopsis: When Louis Bloom, a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.
The Greatest Showman (2017)
Director: Michael Gracey
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya
Synopsis: Celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
The Internship (2013)
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson
Synopsis: Two salesmen whose careers have been torpedoed by the digital age find their way into a coveted internship at Google, where they must compete with a group of young, tech-savvy geniuses for a shot at employment.
