The story of the rise and fall of BlackBerry is set to hit the big screen. That’s right, some intrepid producers have made a film chronicling the phone brand’s establishment and decline. Production on the film recently finished, so all that’s left is to get it somewhere you can watch it.
BlackBerry took the world by storm in the early 2000s with its physical keyboards and popular messaging service. The company’s speedy rise was matched by a similarly swift demise with lawsuits, downsizing, and a $4.4 billion loss marking its final end.
From humble beginnings
BlackBerry follows the story of the founders of Research In Motion (RIM) Ltd, responsible for developing the iconic brand. RIM was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin. In 1992 Lazaridis hired Jim Balsillie, and the pair served as co-CEOs until 2012.
Canadian distributor Elevation Pictures says that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Glenn Howerton will play Balsillie. The role of Mike Lazaridis will be played by Jay Baruchel, from the Seth Rogan comedy Knocked Up.
The film’s reference text is the non-fiction book Losing the Signal: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of BlackBerry. The book describes the story as “a modern-day tale of the unrelenting speed of success and failure.”
The bigger they are the harder they fall
At its peak, everyone from regular folks to the US President at the time, Barack Obama, used a BlackBerry. That all changed with the release of the iPhone in 2007. BlackBerry’s CEOs were unable to respond to the threat the smartphone revolution posed. At the time, Balsillie was quoted as saying that “Cameraphones will be rejected by corporate users.”
BlackBerry eventually caught up in 2018 with the release of the BlackBerry Storm. Several smartphones followed, then a handful of phone/keyboard combinations. The change came too late to help the once-dominant company regain its position in the market. Now, BlackBerry is little more than a name and a bunch of patents.
XYZ Films is financing the film to get it into cinemas around the world. The film production company will market it to international distributors at the Toronto International Film Festival this September.
Source: Variety