Recession-themed films failed to resonate even as the crash reshaped the industry.

Evidence

Hollywood also weighed in, but few recession-themed films resonated with audiences. Director Baz Luhrmann fast-tracked his adaptation of The Great Gatsby, believing the story could illuminate the moment’s excesses. (It didn’t debut until 2013.) Michael Moore’s documentary Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) failed to recoup its $20 million budget, while films like Inside Job (2010), Margin Call (2011), and Too Big to Fail (2011) garnered only modest attention. The Big Short, with Margot Robbie explaining subprime mortgage bonds in a bubble bath, arrived in 2015, only after the crisis had faded from the national conversation. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 213