The story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone.The story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone.The story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone.
- Awards
- 14 wins & 41 nominations
Gregory Ambrose Calderone
- Young Businessman #1
- (as Gregory Calderone)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDue to the very short amount of time that Glenn Howerton had to prepare for the role of Jim Balsillie, he was unable to meet Jim before filming. Howerton also said that Jim rarely made public appearances or gave interviews, which would have helped him to play Jim.
- GoofsAlthough it does have agreements with Canadian regulatory bodies like the Ontario Securities Commission the SEC, which is an American government entity, has no authority to conduct independent investigations within Canada's borders.
- Alternate versionsAlso released as a 3-part miniseries on streaming channel AMC+ under the title "BlackBerry: The Limited Series". This version contains 16 minutes of footage originally omitted from the theatrical edit because it was deemed to be relevant mostly to Canadian audiences, such as Balsillie's love of hockey and his attempts to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins team. Each episode focuses on a different year (1996, 2003 and 2007).
Featured review
Very interesting and largely true. Great tech and business warning. Over-acting TV movie though.
We liked this film a lot. It is a very interesting story that helps remind us about the creation of the smart phone and the battles for the best product, network speed, interface and the bitter battles that ensued. If you are involved in marketing, technology, sales or business--you may see a lot of truth here and a few big warnings about how humans get in the way of themselves and the right decisions. I liked the film and learned a lot from its narrative and warnings of business decision-making, personal egos, management styles, and all the things you can do wrong (or right.) The iPhone crushed BlackBerry--BUT they crushed themselves in how they responded to Apple. The movie helps you realize how amazing Apple is in our world. OK. Here are a few notes for folks who watched the film AND hopefully a few folks who made the film. The acting is good, but a bit TOO much like a Hallmark (or any TV movie). The corporate executive, Jim is so mean, negative and ego-centric that you almost lose any interest in him. I know people like him, but they really painted him too thin and angry to believe. He's a cartoonishly corporate. Always in a suit and trying to get ahead by being a mean person--but we never know why or who he really is. Then, there is Mike, the brains of RIM. He's interesting too and rather believable. I know people like him, but again, the writer and director failed to give us a "why" about Mike. His transition during the film is interesting and his character is the center of the lesson here. His friend, Doug is very funny. The last complaint is that the filming is WAY too much like the Office. Jumpy camera angles do not make it feel real, just cheap. Sorry director. 8/10 is pretty good for a semi-bio flick about technology. Worth a watch--but the writer and director missed the mark on making this a 9 or a 10, which it could have been.
helpful•40
- ChetXBuck
- Jan 15, 2024
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,476,597
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $492,145
- May 14, 2023
- Gross worldwide
- $2,047,650
- Runtime2 hours
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.00 : 1
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