Sport and Cinema.com

Sports movies scored well for the 2012 Academy Awards earning nominations in multiple categories

“Moneyball”, the business of baseball story, garnered a half-dozen nominations including Best Picture.

From Sony Pictures Home Entertainment comes “Moneyball” onto DVD, a film using the business of baseball as a backdrop to examine what drives people to take risks. Based on Michael Lewis’s non-fiction book of the same name, this is the story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire players.

After a few roster changes, Sony Pictures’ baseball film, Moneyball heads into the box office game led by Brad Pitt as the marquee player. Based on a true story, Pitt portrays Billy Beane, a former ballplayer who never met expectations before switching to the business side of the sport as the general manager of the Oakland A’s. Heading into the 2002 season, he faces a daunting situation: his small-market Oakland A’s have lost their star players (again) to big market clubs (and their enormous salaries) and is left to rebuild his team and compete with a third of their payroll.

Sony Picture’s baseball film is back in the starting lineup after being benched over creative differences recently.

According to reports from the Los Angeles Times in a very unusual occurrence, Sony has stopped production on the baseball drama based on Michael Lewis’ 2003 bestseller.

The project, just days from the start of shooting, is largely a reflection of current economic conditions as similar adult dramas like “The International” and “State of Play” underperformed at the box office, but creative differences also played a role.

The actor/comedian has joined the team to play Paul dePodesta, a Harvard grad who’s forte with statistics and probabilities helps Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane (Pitt) develop a methodology to successfully compete against teams with deeper pockets.