20 for 2011: 18 - Moneyball

At number 18 we have an unusual proposition. Moneyball a film about computer programming in baseball.



For two days in a row we have a Zaillian script, although so many people have worked on this it's going to be difficult to tell. Telling the true story of how the Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) used computer analysis to model the best team combination on a budget this seems like the perfect movie for fantasy sports players everywhere. Of course the film is likely to concentrate on the tensions between Beane and the rest of the management who probably go for more instinctive ways of finding talent.

Baseball is a sport that works well in movies, it's a team game where the individual often has to make their own mark, and we're due a high grossing sports movie. The question is with all the high profile troubles this film had getting made (Steven Soderbergh lost all the funding one week before the cameras were set to role with Bennett Miller taking over when production started) will this be the one to hit a home run?