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"Based on a true story"

When a group of amateur investors rallied around the stock for GameStop back in 2021, the story blew up the internet. News outlets around the world, including us here at Planet Money, rushed in to explain why the stock for this retail video game company was suddenly skyrocketing, at times by as much as 1700% in value, and what that meant for the rest of us.

"Based on a true story"

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Horses are spooked by the Woolsey Fire near Paramount Ranch on Nov. 9, 2018, in Agoura Hills, Calif. Matthew Simmons/Getty Images hide caption

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Matthew Simmons/Getty Images

You've likely seen this ranch on-screen — burned by wildfire, it awaits its next act

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Harrison Ford in The Fugitive. PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy Stock Photo hide caption

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PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy Stock Photo

Sally Field plays a cotton mill worker in the 1979 drama Norma Rae. Moviestore Collection Ltd./Alamy hide caption

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Moviestore Collection Ltd./Alamy

Wonder where Hollywood's strikes are headed? Movies might offer a clue

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Clockwise from top left: Invisible Beauty, Foe, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 and Nyad. Magnolia Pictures; Amazon Studios; A24; Murray Close/Lionsgate; Focus Features; Liz Parkinson/Netflix hide caption

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Magnolia Pictures; Amazon Studios; A24; Murray Close/Lionsgate; Focus Features; Liz Parkinson/Netflix

Drew Barrymore, left, faced backlash after she announced her talk show would return to air without her writers who are currently on strike against major studios. She later backtracked. Journalist Michael Schulman says Barrymore's great aunt, Ethel Barrymore, right, undermined union efforts in 1929. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust; Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

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Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust; Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Gael García Bernal and El Hijo del Santo in Cassandro. Alejandro Lopez Pineda/Amazon Content Services LLC hide caption

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Alejandro Lopez Pineda/Amazon Content Services LLC

Gael García Bernal crushes it (and others) as 'Cassandro,' lucha libre's queer pioneer

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Natasha Lyonne, pictured here in November 2022, is one of several actors who's auctioning off unique experiences to support TV and movie crews impacted by the ongoing writers' strike Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Vox Media hide caption

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Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Vox Media

Left: Lisa Cortés, Photographer: Paul Morejon. Right: Little Richard, Source: Magnolia Pictures. Paul Morejon/Magnolia Pictures hide caption

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Paul Morejon/Magnolia Pictures

James Franco, Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini and Seth Rogen in Freaks and Geeks, left, and Issa Rae in Barbie. Getty Images / Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Getty Images / Warner Bros. Pictures

From 'Freaks and Geeks' to 'Barbie,' this casting director decides who gets on-screen

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Matthew McConaughey hopes his new book, Just Because, will spark thoughtful conversations among families and connect people of all generations. Penguin Random House hide caption

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Penguin Random House

Matthew McConaughey's book 'Just Because' is judgment-free

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This 1:24 scale miniature was used to film pivotal scenes from the first Star Wars film. It's now at the center of a auction of items collected over decades by Greg Jein, a master model-builder for film and TV. Heritage Auctions hide caption

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Heritage Auctions

John Chiti is a Zambian musician and police commissioner. He also has albinism, a pigmentation condition that has shaped his life. His story inspired the film "Can You See Us?" — now streaming on Netflix. Jason Milikita/Sightsavers hide caption

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Jason Milikita/Sightsavers

He's a singer, a cop and the inspiration for a Netflix film about albinism in Africa

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Nia Vardalos stars as Toula and John Corbett stars as Ian in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. Focus Features hide caption

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Focus Features

Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is the top grossing movie of 2023, generating more than $1.3 billion at the international box office so far. Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Warner Bros. Pictures

'Barbie' music producer Mark Ronson opens up about the film's 'bespoke' sound

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Julia Roberts in the movie Erin Brockovich. Getty Images hide caption

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Getty Images

SAG-AFTRA leader Fran Drescher has some choice words for Hollywood studio heads. Mandalit del Barco/NPR hide caption

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Mandalit del Barco/NPR

'You could be the hero': Fran Drescher tells NPR how the Hollywood strikes can end

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