How to watch BlackBerry?: Canadian director Matt Johnson’s new movie BlackBerry is the origin story of the titular Smartphone brand. The movie’s screenplay is written by Matthew Miller and director Mark Johnson himself, who adapted it from the book “Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry,” which was authored by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff. At 37, Johnson holds a pretty impressive resume.
His debut feature, the found footage thriller “The Dirties,” which was released in 2013, won heaping praises from the critics as well as so many awards which, includes the prestigious Grand Jury Prize for best Narrative at the Slamdance Film Festival of the same year. The already legendary Kevin Smith not only helped Johnson distribute his maiden movie, but he also labeled “The Dirties” as the most important movie the audience would see that year.
Johnson went on to make another found-footage movie, this time a conspiracy thriller called “Operation Avalanche”- which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Seven years after that, Johnson finally made a return with BlackBerry- which also happens to be his first non-found-footage feature film.
Produced by XYZ films, Zapruder Films, and Rhombus Media, the movie has two primary characters – BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, former co-chair and co-CEO. Douglas Fregin, who co-founded BlackBerry with Lazaridis, also features in the movie as an essential character.
At the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival this year, BlackBerry premiered on February 17th in the competition section. IFC films got the movie’s distribution right in the United States, while Paramount took the responsibility of distribution around the world.
‘Blackberry’ Cast:
Lazaridis and Balsillie are played by actors Jay Baruchel and Glen Howerton. Both pretty big names when it comes to the comedy genre, Baruchel’s credit consists of movies like “Tropic Thunder,” “This is the End” and the offbeat FXX comedy “Man seeking woman”; while Howerton is known for co-creating the cult FX dark-comedy “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” where he also plays Dennis Reynolds- one of the main characters.
BlackBerry cast also has names like Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Stranger Things), Saul Rubinek (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), and Rich Sommer (In the Dark). The character of Douglas Fregin is being played by the director Matt Johnson himself. Popular Youtuber SungWon Cho is also part of the cast.
Is ‘Blackberry’ playing in the theater?
BlackBerry is indeed playing in theaters across the United States and Canada after getting released on May 12th, 2023. Elevation Pictures handled the Canadian release. The Critical response has been nothing short of terrific, which can be seen on Rotten Tomatoes – where it currently stands at a staggering 98% based on 122 reviews. The 90% Audience score also indicates it is getting love from the public as well. To catch it in a theater near you, head over to Fandango and find a show.
Where can I stream the movie ‘Blackberry’ online?
BlackBerry is not available online for streaming at the moment. Although there is no concrete news about its OTT rights being sold or its arrival on Video-on-Demand, given the great response it has received from both Critics and Audiences, we can hope that an OTT platform will soon pick it up. We will also check the 45-day window of VOD release well.
Watch the trailer of ‘Blackberry’ here:
