The BlackBerry movie’s Bold crew hopes it’ll be a Pearl that causes a Storm at the box office
It wasn’t all that long ago that BlackBerry was the go-to name in mobile phones. The company owned over 40% of the market in the US just over 10 years ago, and it had a 20% share of the global market. That’s no longer the case, as the company failed to innovate in the face of the evolving Android and iOS platforms.
It’s a dramatic story that is only a little over 10 years old and is already set to be the subject of a new film simply titled BlackBerry. According to Variety (via TechCrunch), the movie will chart the company’s rise in the early 2000s and its demise in the mid-2010s. The movie has finished production after shooting in the company’s home country of Canada, and while we don’t have a precise release date yet, we should expect to hear more soon.
The movie’s central stars are two actors commonly known for their comedy roles, so maybe it leans more into that tone. Glenn Howerton of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame is one, and the other is Jay Baruchel, who you’ll recognize from comedy movies such as This Is The End. It’s expected these two will play the company’s co-founders, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, but that has yet to be confirmed.
BlackBerry’s story is a fascinating tale of a company burning hot for a short period soon after its foundation as Research In Motion in 1999. The story continues to be interesting, with BlackBerry’s phone brand being licensed to other manufacturers to make handsets. TCL made handsets with the BlackBerry name until 2020 before OnwardMobility took on the title, although that brand didn’t make any phones before confirming it wouldn’t be continuing with the brand.
We’d initially expected to see the first BlackBerry 5G handset by the end of last year, but early in 2022, OnwardMobility confirmed it wouldn’t be introducing a new phone. It’s currently unclear what is next for the BlackBerry brand, and it’s highly likely we’ll be seeing a movie about the company before we hear anything more about future phones.
