Top 14 Making Money Movies to Inspire You to Become Rich!

A classic financial comedy you must watch and indeed, it is ready to be added in your wish list of top finance movies on your rack.

Synopsis:

The main characters are Lious Winthorp III (Dan Aykroyd) and Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy), who is a con man with the first appearance of a blind, legless man. Both characters are the subject of a bet by two brokers Duke brothers. The Duke brothers strip everything from the Lious Winthrop and give it to Billy Ray Valentine. The whole story is about the adjustment of the characters in the new environment with a touch of comic scenes. The film shooted in Philadelphia and New York City from December 1982 to March 1983.

Interesting Facts:

• Trading Places highlights the social issues of class divide, privilege, and stark differences.
• The movie storyline is based on an experiment on whether a person’s success is determined by their environment or personal abilities.
• Trading Places was the turning point in Eddie Murphy’s career and left a strong image as a comedian.
• The film is a super classic comedy+drama that, after decades, continues to entertain the audience with its thought-provoking theme and timeless laughs.

Of course, we had to start this list with an absolute classic!

Synopsis:

The movie portrays the luxurious lifestyle of rich people through the exciting tale of Jordan Belfort, an American stockbroker and financial criminal, who defrauds people through his firm, Stratton Oakmont, and makes billions of dollars. While he and his accomplices are busy enjoying their wealth, drugs, and sex; the FBI and SEC close in on them.

Interesting Facts:

• It is a biopic on the life of Jordan Belfort, the real wolf of Wall Street who scammed thousands of people back in 1996.
• The real Jordan Belfort is still alive at age 60. Having reformed after his prison sentence, he is now an entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker.
• It set a new world record for most swearing in a film, with the f-word occurring about 2.81 times per minute.
• In a decadent scene where Donnie eats a goldfish, Jonah Hill (the actor playing Donnie) puts a real goldfish into his mouth but only for 3 seconds as animal cruelty laws in movies prohibit him.

A thrilling sage of running and chasing, cat and mouse, and police & robber, at its finest!

Synopsis:

This film tells the story of Frank Abagnale, the teenage con man who masquerades as a doctor, pilot, lawyer, etc, and forges millions of dollars worth of paychecks. He also successfully robs a bank at barely the age of 17. FBI agent Carl Hanratty played by Tom Hanks is hot on his pursuit yet Frank always manages to escape him. Will he ever get caught?

Interesting Facts:

• The film is an exaggerated and over-dramatized version of the real-life story of Frank Abagnale, Jr.
• Interestingly, the real Frank makes an appearance in the film too! He’s the French police officer who’s seen arresting Leo at the beginning of the film.
• Tom Hanks also portrayed a real-life FBI officer, Joseph Shea. He did it so well that people close to Shea couldn’t tell them apart and praised Hanks for his excellent acting skills.

Don’t do drugs, kids.

Synopsis:

Centered around the story of a struggling writer who starts taking a new drug for mental enhancement as an act of desperation. It works and turns him into a superhuman. With his newfound abilities, he rises to the top of the financial world. However, side effects from the drug as well as diminishing supply threaten to take away his success.

Interesting Facts:

• It is based on a techno-thriller novel “The Dark Fields” by Irish author Alan Glynn, which was published in 2001.
• Bradley Cooper was not the original actor for the main lead. It was Shia LaBeouf who dropped out due to injuries.
• Maserati gave the film 2 high-end, luxurious cars worth $120,000 which were thrashed on the shabby roads of Mexico. No car movies for car enthusiasts could ever bear that!
• No drugs were consumed in the making of this film.

An accurate depiction of the greed, shadiness, moral bankruptcy, and ruthlessness of the financial world. Tells you how important being financially literate is for regular people.

Synopsis:

A few smart stock traders and hedge fund managers figure out the American Housing Industry is on its way to collapse and make a fortune by taking advantage of it.

Interesting Facts:

• Based on a nonfiction book “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” by Michael Lewis.
• The movie does a good job of explaining complex financial terminology for the viewers’ understanding.
• The studio was concerned about the main characters being too greedy, flawed, and unlikeable but went with it because that’s an accurate representation of certain (read: most) opportunistic people in the financial world.

Probably one of the best portrayals of antagonism and darkness that resides in all humans.

Synopsis:

The movie tells the cutthroat tale of an oil tycoon and how the oil industry is built on blood. Plainview, the lead character moves to California to mine oil by scamming the locals into selling him their land for a mere pittance. The local preacher sees through his lies and a feud ensues. Sprinkle in religion, family, relationships, and hatred and you’ve got a perfect recipe for madness.

Interesting Facts:

• Loosely based on the novel “Oil!” by Upton Sinclair, which was first published in 1926.
• The fake oil was made from the same stuff McDonald’s puts in its chocolate milkshakes!
• Dillon Freasier, the adopted son of Plainview, was a regular Texas kid and not a child actor. He never acted in any other films to this day.

Who isn’t aware of the founding tale of Facebook that changed the course of our society?

Synopsis:

Fascinatingly, tells the story of the success of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social media network Facebook, one of the youngest billionaires in the world, and how his success came at the cost of two lawsuits and some friendships.

Interesting Facts:

• Zuckerberg invented Facebook while he was an undergraduate student at Harvard however, no scenes were filmed there.
• The iconic laptop scene with Andrew Garfield was shot 40 times to satisfy the director.
• Zuckerberg claims that his portrayal in the film is completely inaccurate except for how he dressed as a student at that time.

It is one of the top-rated movies and critically acclaimed movies of all time!

Synopsis:

An Indian-Muslim teenager, Jamal Malik, is one step away from winning a million dollars at a popular game show. However, he is accused of cheating and during investigations, he reflects on his spellbinding and harrowing life as an orphan in the clutches of gangsters who train children to be beggars, in the streets of Mumbai Slums, which taught him all that he knew.

Interesting Facts:

• Adapted from “Q & A” a novel by Indian author Vikas Swarup, published in 2005.
• The movie is set in India, centered around characters from India, but is directed by an Englishman.
• Likewise, most of the dialogues are in English with about 20% in Hindi.
• The pile of excrement that Jamal falls into is made of peanut butter and chocolate (yummy or eww?)
• You’ve still got “Jai Ho” stuck in your mind. We don’t blame you. A. R. Rehman is iconic.

Speaking of multilingual, making-money films, you cannot miss Pachinko. Though it’s more of a web series than a movie, it deserves a mention in this list because it’s mesmerizing.

Synopsis:

Set in Japanized colonized Korea, it follows a Korean immigrant family over four generations and how they experienced discrimination, racism, and stereotyping. The youngest family member, though lives in the current-day USA but still struggles to find success due to discrimination.

Interesting Facts:

• Pachinko is one of the most mesmerizing films based on books as it’s adapted from the New York Times Bestseller and critically acclaimed novel of the same name by writer Min Jin Lee.
• It stars Lee Min-Ho, one of the most beloved Korean actors which most K-drama fans will recognize from his various successful TV shows.
• The name “Pachinko” comes from a Japanese game similar to pinball, a legal form of gambling.

One of the best feel-good movies about success and money, it’s not to be missed.

Synopsis:

Chirs Gardner, a single, homeless father struggles to make ends meet and provide for his son while interning at a brokerage firm. They go through numerous hardships before finally finding success.

Interesting Facts:

• Based on a true story and tells the rags-to-riches tale of a successful businessman Chris Gardner.
• The title is intentionally misspelled to match the real-world mural.
• Everyone must already know, but Jaden Smith is the actual son of Will Smith, so the characters are played by a real father-son duo.
• The real Chris Gardner makes a brief appearance at the end of the movie.

Another movie based on a true story; Cinderella Man is truly inspiring.

Synopsis:

James J. Braddock, an ex-boxer decides to join the ring again despite his right-hand injury during the great depression to provide for his family. He ends up becoming an icon of hope for the people due to his extraordinary success.

Interesting Facts:

• Inspired by the life story of the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion James J. Braddock during the Great Depression.
• Russel Crowe, the actor we know so well from Gladiator, wasn’t in shape and had to lose over 50 pounds for the role.
• For the scenes at the docks, the filmmakers took inspiration from Depression-era photography which was incredibly powerful in changing the child-labor laws in the U.S.

The story of how the Great Recession hit American families, destroyed their finances, homes, and dreams, and increased the gap between rich and poor sectors of society.

Synopsis

It centers around the story of Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck), who was climbing up the corporate ladder fast in a manufacturing and shipping conglomerate and found himself hit by the downsizing of the company. The other major characters, Boy Walker’s colleagues, Phil (Chris Cooper) and Gene (Tommy Lee Jones), also struggle with unemployment.

Interesting Facts:

1. The explanations, arguments, and sentences are extracted from the real conversations the director had with the CEOs and their wives during his research process.
2. The top-tier cast are all Oscar winners.
3. It might seem strange, but the age difference between Ben Affleck, who played the role of the son of William Hill, is only 11 years.
4. Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones both have starred in Batman movies.
5. Tommy Lee Jones shot all of his scenes in a short span of just 18 days.

Tells you how a mafia and power dynamics work!

Synopsis

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, The Godfather is a timeless classic that cannot be omitted from this list. It is a saga of organized crime, family politics, and power struggles. It spans later generations as well, telling a long-run story of the life of a mafia. It is a patriarchal movie focusing on Vito Corleone and his son, Michael Corleone. The famous dialogue of Vito Corleone, “I’m Gonna Make Him an Offer He Can’t Refuse.” shows the power the Corleone family holds.

Interesting Facts

1. The famous family dinner scene in the film played out so well because of the improvisational rehearsal that the crew did at the actual family meal.
2. Pacino, who played the character of Micheal, was not the first choice by the studio. They were interested in getting Robert Redford or Ryan O’Neal on board to play the character.
3. Brando’s cat was actually a stray cat. But during takes, it becomes familiar to him so fast that he improvises with it entire scenes.
4. There were a lot of big names that wanted to play the character of Micheal, like Warren Beatty, Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, and Jack Nicholson, but Coppola, the director, wanted to cast Pacino.

Meet the mastermind behind the innovation that is transforming our world.

Synopsis

Elon Musk: The Real Life Iron Man” is one of the documentary films that actually expresses the true story of Elon Musk’s accomplishments as a transforming icon in technology and entrepreneurship. This movie shows how one boy from South Africa made his fortune to become one of the richest personalities in the world through efforts undertaken in ventures such as Tesla, SpaceX, and other groundbreaking projects.

Interesting Facts

• Being one of the greatest entrepreneurs and more importantly the character of the documentary “Elon Musk: The Real Life Iron Man”. Elon Musk is estimated to have over $230 billion in net worth according to Forbes as of 2023.
• The documentary was filmed across three continents: North America, Europe, and Asia.
• In the documentary, in the opening scene, a callous shot of Elon Musk’s wake-up routine was filmed over some days to get a glimpse into his authenticity toward his everyday routine.
• The crew spent two weeks filming at the headquarters of SpaceX, capturing rare footage of the company’s operations.
• Elon Musk’s mother, Maye, initially refused to participate in the documentary but finally opened up about Elon and his childhood.

Final Words

The world of business and finance can be greedy, cutthroat, and ruthless; but it can also be inspiring and motivating. It’s up to you to decide which category to fall into but we hope these films did a good job of portraying both sides. So, don’t forget to check out these awesome making-money movies this season!

Watched all of these films? Consider Checking out: Best War Movies