Thinking of starting a business or are just curious about it? There are some highly entertaining movies that capture the excitement and challenges of building something from scratch. Whether you’re dreaming of being an entrepreneur or you’ve been in the game for a while, these films are both informative and entertaining.
With that being said, here are the 10 best films about start-ups and entrepreneurship to keep you busy and motivated this weekend.
Joy (2015)
The film cites the story of Joy Mangano, a divorced mom of two, navigating a busy home with her parents, ex-husband, and kids. Even in the midst of chaos, Joy finds time to be creative and invent things that can simplify life.
Joy’s life takes a joyous detour when she comes up with the Miracle Mop—a clever invention featuring a self-wringing mechanism and a detachable, machine-washable head. Joy’s ambition and entrepreneurial drive inspire her to experiment, fight lawsuits, and eventually start her own company.
Flash of Genius (2008)
This is one cupcake that you must taste at least once. Greg Kinnear takes on the role of Robert Kearns, a family man and engineering professor who loves inventing things. In the early 1960s, he gets a brilliant idea for intermittent windshield wipers while watching his eye blink at a dinner party.
Kearns gets to work, makes a working model, and tries to strike a deal with Ford. Unfortunately, Ford turns down the teal, but behind Greg’s back, they start using his invention in their cars without giving him the credit or cash he deserves, leading to a year-long legal battle.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
The documentary tells the story of Enron, a once super-successful energy company from Houston. They were on top of the world but ended up crashing hard in 2001.
The film spills the beans on their shady techniques like hiding debt, manipulating the books, playing with the market, and creating a toxic work culture where staff were pushed to do unethical deeds. In layman’s terms, the documentary is an entertaining and informative ride into how things went south for the Elron Group.
Barbarians at the Gate (1993)
The movie takes place in the 1980s, zooming in on the big corporate shuffle and fierce competition for RJR Nabisco. F. Ross Johnson pitches the idea of buying out the company and making it private.
This sets off a never-ending bidding war, with heavy hitters like Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and Forstmann Little & Co. jumping in to have their piece of the pie. The best thing about the film is that it takes you behind the scenes, telling us all the sneaky deals, betrayals, and smart moves by everyone involved.
Steve Jobs (2015)
This film is a must-watch if you’re a budding entrepreneur in need of inspiration and adrenaline. The movie talks about three big moments in Jobs’ career: when he launched the Macintosh in ’84, the NeXT Computer in ’88, and the iMac G3 in ’98.
But rather than going with the usual biography style, we get a backstage pass, seeing Jobs’ relationship with friends, family, and colleagues right before these game-changing presentations. It’s not a typical life story, but based on Jobs’ character, how he dreamt big, obsessed over perfection, and became an immortal in the tech world.
The Social Network (2010)
The Winklevoss twins and Narendra pitched an idea to Zuckerberg about making a social networking site for Harvard students. At first, Zuckerberg is on board, but then he backs down, and rather decides to go after his own vision for a social network.
That’s how “Facebook” came to life in 2004, but as the platform gained traction, Zuckerberg found himself in legal hot water with the Winklevosses and Eduardo Saverin, the guy who initially invested in and co-founded Facebook.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
This Martin Scorsese film tracks the descent into bankruptcy of Jordan Belfort, a fresh, aspiring financier who established a company called Stratton Oakmont in the latter part of the 1980s.
Jordan’s claim to fame involves marketing penny stocks to those who don’t know well, making use of aggressive and illegal sales tactics. Eventually, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the FBI started to look into the books of Stratton Oakmont, leading to the downfall of Belfort’s empire.
The Founder (2016)
Set in the 1950s, we tag alongside Ray Kroc, who’s a traveling salesman trying to make a buck selling milkshake machines. Fate rolls him a die, and Ray stumbles upon a tiny yet super-efficient burger joint in San Bernardino, California, owned by the McDonald brothers.
Kroc is blown away by the brothers’ genius “Speedee Service System” and how smoothly everything runs. Inspired, he pitches the idea of taking it national and international. Unfortunately, things don’t go exactly as planned for the McDonald brothers, leading to a massive legal tussle.
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
This is the real-life story of Chris Gardner, a man facing tough times and homelessness while striving to become a stockbroker. Chris takes a gamble by investing in portable bone density scanners, but things don’t pan out as planned. Since Chris has poured everything he had into the scanners, he is left with no money to pay rent or afford supplies.
Even still, Chris has his head held high and opts for an unpaid internship at Dean Witter. Seeing Chris battling it out with other interns for a shot at one of the few paid positions while taking care of his kid is both heartbreaking and inspirational.
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019)
This movie is a clear example that proves why being overly ambitious can be bad for your health. Rooted in reality, this documentary follows charming and aggressive businesswoman Elizabeth Holmes, who boasted of having transformed medicine with a blood-testing technology.
Holmes said that Theranos could perform a battery of tests with as little as a few millilitres of blood, laying the foundation for simpler and more rapid genetic testing. However, this was all a facade, and Holmes had lied to rob investors of their billions, leading to her facing the music.
And there you have it, the 10 best movies about entrepreneurship orstart-ups. Did your favorite make the cut? We want to hear from you! Drop your thoughts in the comments below.