Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Oliver Stone
Produced by	Edward R. Pressman Eric Kopeloff
Written by	Allan Loeb Stephen Schiff
Based on	Characters by Stanley Weiser Oliver Stone
Starring	Michael Douglas Shia LaBeouf Josh Brolin Carey Mulligan Eli Wallach Susan Sarandon Frank Langella
Music by	Craig Armstrong
Cinematography	Rodrigo Prieto
Edited by	Julie Monroe David Brenner
Production company	Edward R. Pressman Productions Ixtlan Productions Dune Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	May 14, 2010 (2010-05-14) (Cannes) September 24, 2010 (2010-09-24) (US)
Running time	133 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70 million
Box office	$134.7 million

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (also known as Wall Street 2 or Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps) is a 2010 American drama film directed by Oliver Stone, a sequel to Wall Street (1987). It stars Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon and, in his final film role before his death in 2014, Eli Wallach.

The film takes place in New York, 23 years after the original, and revolves around the 2008 financial crisis. Its plot centers on a reformed Gordon Gekko, played by Douglas, acting as an antihero rather than a villain, and follows his attempts to repair his relationship with his daughter Winnie (Mulligan), with the help of her fiancé, Jacob (LaBeouf).

Principal photography took place in New York between September and November 2009. After having its release date moved twice, Money Never Sleeps was released theatrically worldwide on September 24, 2010, by 20th Century Fox. Prior to its official release, many journalists connected to the financial industry were reportedly shown advance screenings of the film.

Despite opening to positive reception at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Money Never Sleeps received polarized reviews from critics, who generally praised the acting, but considered it an unnecessary sequel. Though failing to meet its critical expectations, the film was successful at the box office, topping the United States's ranking during its opening weekend, and earning a worldwide total of $134 million in ticket sales, and more than $15 million on DVD.

In 2001, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) is released from prison after serving eight years for insider trading and securities fraud. Seven years later, Gekko is promoting his new book Is Greed Good?, warning about the coming economic downturn. His estranged daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan), runs a small, non-profit news website and is dating Jacob Moore (Shia LaBeouf), a top proprietary trader at Keller Zabel Investments (KZI). Jacob is a protégé of managing director Louis Zabel (Frank Langella), and is trying to raise money for a fusion research project which would create massive amounts of clean energy for the world. Jake is also financially assisting his mother (Susan Sarandon), who has begun a new career selling real estate.