If you enjoyed The Wolf of Wall Street movie here are ten other movies that you would likely also find entertaining for their similarities.
The Great Gatsby: This role is also played by Leo DiCaprio as millionaire Jay Gatsby that throws lavish parties, flaunts his wealth, and came by it questionably. Nick Carraway (played by Tobey Maguire) arrived in New York in the early 1920s, searching for the American dream. Nick is the neighbor of millionaire Jay Gatsby (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). Nick enters the surreal world of the rich and sees how fake they are along with their deceits. Nick writes a story of tragic love and fateful dreams. Very similar in its plot, flow, and story line to The Wolf of Wall Street.
The Social Network: Another great story of wealth and money making but this one is a real entrepreneurial movie where Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room in the early 2000s. The story shows both the success and underhanded deeds of Zuckerberg as he creates one of the biggest companies in the world.
The Big Short: If you want to see how real traders on Wall Street operate this one is the true story of how traders made millions betting against the real estate market during the 2008 financial crises. Unlike The Wolf of Wall Street these traders kept their profits and stayed out of jail. This is a very entertaining movie the way it is filmed with stars popping in with financial lessons and Christian Bale stealing the show with his portrayal of Michael Burry.
Boiler Room: The original penny stock pumping movie where twenty-year-olds became millionaires overnight. The movie takes a look inside the fly-by-night brokerage firm model that uses aggressive young “stockbrokers” to sell scam stocks to naïve buyers over the phone. The rewards for success are mansions, Ferraris and the best luxury toys. Scammers chase money at the cost of their “customers” just a few steps ahead of law enforcement. Very similar to The Wolf of Wall Street story line.
Glengarry Glen Ross: A movie about high pressure real estate sales where a firm decides to fire all but two of their top people in a week. The Alec Baldwin scene about sales was one of the best scenes of any movie I’ve seen. This movie is all about do or die sales.
War Dogs: This movie has been called The Wolf of Wall Street but with selling weapons instead of penny stocks. A aspiring young man (Jonah Hill) offers his childhood friend the opportunity to make big money through being an international arms dealer. They exploit a government program that lets businesses bid on military contracts. They start small and make a lot of money and start living high on their profits. They get in over their heads after getting a $300 million arms deal to supply the Afghan forces that leads them to a more shady path to make it happen.
The Founder: The true story of how Ray Kroc invented fast food and built one of the biggest companies in the world. A struggling milkshake salesman (Michael Keaton) in the 1950s met the McDonald brothers Mac (John Carroll Lynch) and Dick (Nick Offerman), who were running a burger joint in Southern California. Kroc was so impressed by their fast system of making the burgers and fries that he saw franchise potential. Kroc eventually finds a way to cut the brothers out of the business and focus on real estate acquisition for the store locations and sell franchises to allow the McDonald’s corporation to explode in growth.
Wall Street: On 1980s Wall Street, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is an ambitious stockbroker trying to do whatever it takes to make it to the top. He gets Corporate raider Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) to mentor him by giving him insider stock tips. Fox gets himself wrapped up in greed and illegal schemes that threaten the livelihood of his own father (Martin Sheen). Fox must pick his loyalties and make tough decisions of betrayal.
The Aviator: Leonardo DiCaprio plays aviation tycoon and billionaire Howard Hughes. Hughes is a famous public figure and the director of blockbuster Hollywood films like “Hell’s Angels.” He is a passionate lover of the famous actresses Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale), and also an aviation pioneer who helps build TWA into one of the biggest airlines in the world. In his private life, Hughes endures mental suffering and is tormented with both phobias and depression. His life is a rollercoaster of the biggest successes publicly but the lowest mental depths privately.
MoneyBall: The general manager of the Oakland A’s Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) believes baseball’s conventional way of doing things is wrong in theory because no one bothered to crunch the numbers to see what really works. Due to his budget restrictions at Oakland and the owner wanting to run the team like a business and not as a money losing hobby, Beane is forced to find value for the team’s money. He hires Ivy League graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) to use his lap top to crunch the numbers for the statistics on draft picks and players to focus on what matters the most in wining games, base on balls and pitching. He recruits and drafts overlooked value players with flaws but could win games. If you like baseball and Jonah Hill you will love this movie.
