'The Big Short': Will the newest adaptation of a Michael Lewis book be a hit?

Lewis's books have previously been the basis for such popular Oscar favorites as 'The Blind Side' and 'Moneyball.' Will 'The Big Short,' which stars Brad Pitt and Steve Carell, do similarly well?

Another of Michael Lewis’s nonfiction books has been adapted for the screen, with the movie “The Big Short,” which is based on Mr. Lewis’s book of the same name, coming to movie theaters this December. 

“Short” stars Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, Christian Bale, and Ryan Gosling as Wall Street insiders who were able to predict the approach of the 2008 financial crisis.

The movie is directed and co-written by Adam McKay of “Anchorman 2” and “The Other Guys.” The film recently was screened at the AFI Fest.

Books by Lewis have been very successful in Hollywood. Film adaptations of his books “The Blind Side” and “Moneyball” were hits with both critics and moviegoers. “Blind” became a box office hit in 2009 and actress Sandra Bullock won a Best Actress Oscar for her role as real-life figure Leigh Anne Tuohy. The film was also nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

2011’s “Moneyball” did similarly well, performing respectively at the box office and earning Oscar nods for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor for Mr. Pitt and Jonah Hill.

Academy voters are often drawn to real-life stories. Many recent awards went to actors playing real people, such as Eddie Redmayne, who won a Best Actor Oscar for portraying Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything”; Matthew McConaughey, who portrayed real-life figure Ron Woodroof in and won a Best Actor Oscar for “Dallas Buyers Club”; and Lupita Nyong’o, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as the slave Patsey in “12 Years a Slave.” 

Will “Short” do as well as the movies “Blind” and “Moneyball”? It will come to theaters on Dec. 11 in limited release.