"21" is based on the true story of six MIT students who became expert card-counters and operated as a team to make millions playing blackjack in Las Vegas. The 2008 movie starred Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, and Kate Bosworth.
The story was originally retold in the 2003 book "Bringing Down the House" by Ben Mezrich, and was shot at locations in and around Boston – including Cambridge's Harvard Square. Eagle-eyed viewers can spot scenes shot on the Christian Science Plaza, home to the Monitor's newsroom, which stood in for the MIT campus in the film.
The film grossed $81,159,365 at the US box office.
Another Mezrich book, 2009's "Accidental Billionaires," serves as the basis for a film chronicling another unlikely success – the David Fincher-directed "The Social Network," which tells the story of the founding of Facebook. Also shot partly in the Boston area, the film arrives in theaters nationwide Oct. 1.
