The Sam Bankman-Fried Movie Is Coming — And These Two Streaming Companies Are Considering Buying The Rights

The saga that is cryptocurrency platform FTX and its co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried could be must-see television or an epic biopic that portrays him as a hero or villain.

The good news for anyone hoping for this outcome will be pleased to hear the latest about a potential movie or television series.

What Happened: While many have been following the collapse and bankruptcy of cryptocurrency platform FTX, it was reported that one person might have been closely following along with Bankman-Fried as he led the cryptocurrency company.

Benzinga shared recently that reports said author Michael Lewis has been following Bankman-Fried for the last six months working on a potential book.

Lewis is known for books like “Moneyball: The Art of Winning and Unfair Game,” “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game” and “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine,” which all became the subjects of successful movies.

An email from talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) was sent to parties to drum up demand for the book and potential movie rights, according to a report.

The bidding for film and television rights for the yet-to-be-written book is anticipated to see strong demand given the subject matter and the author’s previous works.

A report from Deadline says two streaming giants are among the most interested parties in the rights to the book. Amazon Studios, a unit of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Netflix Inc NFLX are both interested.

Netflix would use Director David Fincher on the project according to the report. Fincher previously directed “The Social Network,” which told the story of Meta Platforms Inc META and its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Netflix is also circling the project on behalf of Sugar23, which would see Josh Gad attached to the project.

That’s right, the voice of Olaf the snowman from the Frozen franchise could soon be portraying one of the biggest cryptocurrency personalities of all time.

Producer David Heyman, who previously led the Harry Potter series, producing all eight movies for Warner Bros. Discovery WBD is listed as interested in the project as well.

Other interested parties reported are Scott Burns and Jonathan Glickman with Andrew Ross Sorkin, a CNBC host and New York Times columnist.

Related Link: From 'Smoke And Mirrors' To 'Greed And Deception': Senator Elizabeth Warren Doubles Down On Criticism Of FTX, Crypto

Why It’s Important: The bidding has not started on the movie and television rights yet, but as expected, the pitch from CAA drummed up demand including a couple of streaming companies.

Movies and television series about technology companies have been popular with studios in recent years. “WeCrashed,” which aired on AppleTV+ from Apple Inc AAPL, covered the story of WeWork.

“Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber,” which centered on the Uber Technologies Inc story aired as a series on Showtime, a unit of Paramount Global PARAPARAA.

There have been several documentaries and miniseries chronicling the GameStop and meme stock surge of 2021. Another movie is in the works about GameStop with big names attached from a book written by “The Social Network” author Ben Mezrich.

Audiences often love biopic stories of celebrities, musicians and athletes. How well the story of a cryptocurrency billionaire will do remains to be seen. 

To read about the latest FTX developments, check out Benzinga's FTX home page.

Photo: Screenshot of SBF from FTX video on YouTube