In short
The best movies about marketing and business tell you what went wrong as much as what went right. Our list of 19, from the newest to the classics:
- 2026: The Social Reckoning (in US theaters from October 9)
- 2025: Marty Supreme, Mountainhead, The Phoenician Scheme
- 2024: Unfrosted
- 2023: Air, BlackBerry, Tetris, Flamin' Hot, Dumb Money
- The classics: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), The Big Short (2015), The Social Network (2010), Jobs (2013), Moneyball (2011), Thank You for Smoking (2005), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), The Founder (2016), The Dropout (2022, miniseries)
Inspiration and motivation can come from the most unthinkable sources.
One of these is the movies. Yes, you read that right, even the field of marketing, sales and doing business can learn valuable lessons from movies.
This should come as no surprise, since film is one of the most powerful storytelling tools, capable of effectively capturing and communicating people's emotions. But how can movies inspire or teach business? Through stories.
What we often don't understand about these works of art, however, is that, first and foremost, they are "virtual flight simulators," serving us to learn how to avoid the same mistakes the protagonists make. Storytelling probably originated in the human species for this very purpose. We have only one life, and little room for failure in our endeavors: better to learn what not to do than what to do.
What philosophy, and Nassim Taleb, call the "via negativa."
So happy viewing, with the most enjoyable via negativa ever: movies!
The first edition of this list (2023) had ten titles. In this October 2026 update we added nine films released between 2023 and 2026, because Hollywood has discovered that the story of a product, a sneaker, a phone, a snack, can carry a whole movie. You will find them at the top, newest first. Streaming availability changes by country, so for the new entries we link the film's reference page.
New movies from 2025 and 2026
1. "The Social Reckoning" (2026)
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, it is a standalone sequel to The Social Network: the internal Facebook documents leaked in 2021 by whistleblower Frances Haugen and the reporting of journalist Jeff Horwitz. World premiere in London on September 29, 2026, in US theaters from October 9, 2026. It makes the list for the question it puts to marketers: what happens when a company learns from its own data that the product does harm, and keeps selling it.
2. "Marty Supreme" (2025)
Josh Safdie directs Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser, a table tennis player in 1950s New York who wants to be world champion. Premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 6, 2025, released in the US on December 25 by A24. Marty sells himself first: he pitches orange balls with his name on them to a businessman played by Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary. The film's own launch became a case study too, with an orange «Marty Supreme» blimp flying across the United States.
3. "Mountainhead" (2025)
The first film by Jesse Armstrong, creator of Succession, released on HBO on May 31, 2025. Four tech billionaire friends, Steve Carell and Jason Schwartzman among them, lock themselves in a mountain house while the world outside falls into crisis, partly because of their products. A sharp satire of founder language: watch it, then reread the last pitch you wrote.
4. "The Phoenician Scheme" (2025)
Wes Anderson premiered it at Cannes on May 18, 2025: Zsa-zsa Korda, a ruthless businessman played by Benicio del Toro, tries to close the project of his life while mending things with his daughter. He keeps his business plans in shoeboxes and deals with partners who do not trust him: a comic portrait of how you fund a venture once your reputation is gone.
Marketing and brand movies from 2023 and 2024
5. "Unfrosted" (2024)
Jerry Seinfeld directs, co-writes and stars in this Netflix comedy about Kellogg's and Post racing to launch the Pop-Tart in 1963. It is a farce, not a documentary, but the core is real: two brands, one shelf, and the rush to be first in the customer's mind.
6. "Air" (2023)
A beautiful, almost theatrical work about a small group of motivated managers, marketers and persuaders who revolutionized the world of sports shoes and basketball in a few weeks with a feat of strategy, persuasion, invention, creativity, improvisation. And, all in all, ethics.
7. "BlackBerry" (2023)
Directed by Matt Johnson and based on the book Losing the Signal by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff, it follows the rise and fall of the phone every manager once carried. Watch it for the moment the market changes and the company keeps selling the old idea: a lesson about positioning that no slide can teach as well.
8. "Tetris" (2023)
Directed by Jon S. Baird for Apple TV+, with Taron Egerton as Henk Rogers. Less a film about a video game than about licensing: who owns the rights, who signs, who gets there first. If you have ever negotiated a distribution deal, you will recognize the anxiety.
9. "Flamin' Hot" (2023)
Eva Longoria's directorial debut, released on Hulu and Disney+, tells the story of Richard Montañez and the spicy Cheetos as he tells it. Frito-Lay disputed his account after an internal investigation, as the Los Angeles Times reported in May 2021: a lesson on how a founder story becomes marketing, and how fragile it is.
10. "Dumb Money" (2023)
Craig Gillespie tells the GameStop squeeze of 2021, with Paul Dano as Keith Gill. A film about markets, but also about community and attention: a handful of posts and videos moved a stock that big hedge funds were betting against.
Classics every marketer should see
Are any of these movies similar to The Wolf of Wall Street? I know many of you are asking this question. And the answer is: CERTAINLY YES. In fact, The Wolf of Wall Street is the first one we will meet.
11. "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013)
This very famous film provides an entertaining, yet gruesome, insight into the world of sales and manipulation. It teaches us the importance of perseverance and ambition in achieving goals. But it also reminds us that the ends do not justify the means, and if we act as if they do, sooner or later we will pay the price.
Curiously, many viewers did not catch the critical part in the film, and that is a pity.
12. "The Big Short" (2015)
The prurient relationship between risk, profit and personality. A group of outsiders saw the collapse of the system from a distance and capitalized on it. With enormous difficulties and the possibility of losing everything, first of all themselves.
To be alone and against everything: that is doing business. All too often.
13. "The Social Network" (2010)
It tells the story of how Facebook was created and spread. It is a masterful lesson in the transformation of an idea into a multi-billion dollar empire. And it shows a side that is often overshadowed: the "social" and relational cost of the most cynical choices made by some seemingly clean-cut characters.
Are we sure it is worth it? The ending has its own thesis.
14. "Jobs" (2013)
The most "crackling" biography of Steve Jobs. How an entrepreneur can change the world with his ideas and vision. Jobs is shown here with all his sides, including the most humanly disastrous ones.
Yet it is interesting to get a peek inside the brain of a genius.
15. "Moneyball" (2011)
This film tells the story of how the Oakland A's general manager revolutionized the world of baseball. It teaches us the importance of data analysis in decision making. Today everyone fills their mouths with terms about these topics, but in truth it is largely hot air.
Perhaps more substance is needed?
16. "Thank You for Smoking" (2005)
A film that shows us how powerful marketing can be. It teaches us that sometimes, to be successful, you have to know how to sell not just a product, but an idea.
17. "Saving Mr. Banks" (2013)
You may be Walt Disney, but to make money you need someone who has the ideas and content you need. And if that person is a grumpy, nearly untouchable Anglo-Australian lady, you're going to need a lot of energy and to get back in touch with yourself and your childhood.
Unprecedented light on the relationship between business, childhood and psychology. Profound and moving.
18. "The Founder" (2016)
It tells the story of how McDonald's became McDonald's. It shows us that to be successful, sometimes you have to make unpopular choices and believe fully in your inspiration.
Very interesting is the role of Ray Kroc, who literally risked his own house, his own career, and more and more legal battles to bring his project down to earth.
Not a particularly positive character, but certainly a determined man to draw (partial) inspiration from.
19. "The Dropout" (2022, miniseries)
More and more businesses, and more and more startups, are seeking the easy way out based on audience manipulation, charismatic leaders and false but gigantic proclamations. It doesn't always work. In fact, it almost never does.
And when it doesn't work, the existential parable is first exhilarating, and then dramatic. As Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos knows well. Strictly speaking it is a series, not a movie, but it earns its place.
FAQ
What is the best movie about marketing?
For pure marketing, "Air" (2023) and "Thank You for Smoking" (2005): the first shows how a brand wins a deal, the second how a message reframes a product.
What are the newest movies about business and startups?
Aaron Sorkin's "The Social Reckoning", in US theaters from October 9, 2026, and three 2025 films: "Marty Supreme", "Mountainhead" and "The Phoenician Scheme".
Are there recent movies about brands?
Yes: between 2023 and 2024 came "Air", "BlackBerry", "Tetris", "Flamin' Hot" and "Unfrosted", all built around a real product.
Which movies are like The Wolf of Wall Street?
"The Big Short" and "Dumb Money" share the world of finance; "The Founder" shares the ruthless protagonist.
Sources
- The Social Reckoning, Wikipedia
- Marty Supreme, Wikipedia
- Mountainhead, Wikipedia
- The Phoenician Scheme, Wikipedia
- Berlinale 2023, BlackBerry
- Tetris (film), Wikipedia
- Flamin' Hot, Wikipedia
- Los Angeles Times, "The man who didn't invent Flamin' Hot Cheetos", 16 May 2021
- Unfrosted, Wikipedia
- Dumb Money, Wikipedia
PS: the cover image was generated with artificial intelligence.
