Can "Wall Street" be a franchise?

A

Aspiring Mogul

I just saw the sequel, "Wall Street: Money never sleeps", and it wasn't as good as the original, but it was successful. I would say it was a timely film, being about the 2008 financial crisis, but it dragged on a bit with the sub-plot about Gordon Gekko's daughter and her love story.

I'm wondering if this is a potential franchise, with Gordon Gekko being the anti-hero, just as 007 would be the hero of his franchise, and just as Inspector Clouseau would be the star of the Pink Panther one.
 
Actually, insider trading remains illegal, but there is a school of thought from the eminent University of Chicago, that it shouldn't be illegal, because it brings information to the market and it harms no one.

As for the other things Gekko did, namely break up companies, that was the trend in the 1980's, but it was actually good, because companies that are worth less than the sum of their parts should be broken up. That is in fact why America beat Japan, because Japan's system doesn't allow that. Economic history has shown that now, and I don't know if anyone outside of academia will dispute that.

Thanks for letting me express my point. :)
 
In the first film, Gekko was arrested for insider trading, but that wasn't his real crime. His real crime was immoral, though - as you correctly point out - not illegal. The insider trading angle was just Oliver Stone's tool to give him some comeuppance. Sometimes you gotta get Capone on tax evasion.

It sounds from your reply like you are defending Gekko, which is fine, though it does make him more of a "hero" than an "anti-hero" (which was your word). Most people considered him a sleazebag, but to each his own.

At any rate, my response was intended to answer your original question: Is this a possible franchise? I think it definitely is, and I would be very surprised - given current events - if Oliver Stone is not outlining a third film as we speak (type).
 
Insider trading is illegal, but, as I said, there is a Chicago school of thought that says it shouldn't be, and I'm sympathetic to it. Furthermore, I would say that breaking up companies was a good thing, because it restructured American companies, which eventually allowed them to beat the Japanese.
 
Sure we can talk movies. I like the storyline of Wall Street, and, as this OP suggests, I think it can be a lucrative franchise, because these two have apparently been successful. I like the second one because it mirrored the real crisis of 2007/8, but, as I said, the sub-plot with the daughter really, really dragged.

I also don't like Gekko changing his character, from being a gecko to being an anti-hero - that took away the story, at least for me. I think the franchise should shift from Bud Fox and his successor, Jacob Moore (Shia Leboeuf) to focusing on Gekko the gecko.
 
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