Big businesses made a fuss over Bond, but go quiet on The Big Short
Financiers are famed for their love of hard facts and logical outlook, but would London’s business folk rather daydream about being spies than take a history lesson?
That seems to be the case as far as film tastes are concerned. Last year firms could barely contain themselves ahead of the release of latest Bond film Spectre, but there seems to be little enthusiasm for new financial blockbuster The Big Short.
Back in October The Capitalist heard of at least four firms bulk-buying tickets to the new Bond film and writing it off as a “corporate event”.
Santander held a private screening for staff in the swanky One Aldwych Hotel on the same night Spectre premiered in London, complete with a martini bar for ambiance. Investment bank Liberum held a similar party at the Barbican Centre for a hundred or so of its staff, cinema giant Odeon also held a lavish event at its flagship Leicester Square venue, and telco firm BT booked a screening at the May Fair Hotel for a do the following night.
The Big Short, which tells the story of how a few rogue traders made millions by predicting the 2008 financial crash, might seem like a more relevant choice for a corporate networking event ahead of its release on Friday. Sadly, the firms we spoke to last year are sitting this one out.
Even the Everyman Cinema in Canary Wharf, which held a competition to find workers in the area actually called James Bond ahead of Spectre’s release, said it wouldn’t be looking to give out free tickets to bankers this time round.
Come on, some of you must be lining up special viewings of this financial blockbuster – tell us what you have planned.