Movies That Provide Business Lessons Quiz

Answer: Monsters, Inc.

In Monstropolis, Sully and Mike (John Goodman and Billy Crystal) work at a factory that takes the energy from the screams of children and stores them in energy containers, which basically power the city. Sully and Mike work at the Monsters, Inc. factory as "scarers", monsters whose special talent is scaring children to elicit screams.

When a cute little girl accidentally gets trapped in monster-word, Sully discovers that her laughter actually provides more energy than her screams. By the end, Sully has become CEO of Monsters, Inc, and instead of training monsters to scare children, the company and factory's new policy involves making children laugh as a way of solving their energy crisis.

Answer: Singin' in the Rain

In "Singin' In The Rain", Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is the star of a silent movie being made called "The Dueling Cavalier". When "The Jazz Singer" proves to be a big hit, the producers decide to convert "The Dueling Cavalier" from a silent picture to a talkie.

The transition is not easy one everyone. Particularly funny is when Don's leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) is unable to deal with the technical task of addressing her lines to the hidden microphone in a flower arrangement on a table. So in part, the film gives us a humorous look at how a business might have to learn new techniques when working with updated technologies.

Answer: Clearwater Marine Aquarium

A boy named Sawyer helps rescue a dolphin from a crab trap, and the two become fast friends. The story is based on a true story about a dolphin that learns how to swim without its tail. This dolphin was given a prosthetic tail, and in so doing, actually helped save the financially struggling aquarium. So we learn that under the right circumstances, what we thought might be someone's handicap can unexpectedly turn out to provide assets we never foresaw.

The quality of tolerance and acceptance thus exist as benefits in the often cold harsh business world as well.

Answer: Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino

All these actor and actress combos have played spy parents, but it was Carla Gugino and Antonio Banderas who play the "Spy Kids'" spy parents that are kidnapped and must then be saved by their two children, Carmen and Juni Cortez. The two kids didn't expect this event to turn up in their lives, but it's baptism by fire so they adapt quickly, arming themselves and setting out as spies, just like their parents.

By the end of the film when the family is settled in at the breakfast table, another assignment comes in, and the daughter announces that the family will no longer accept assignments as individuals but rather, as a family.

Answer: Big Miracle

In "Big Miracle" a family of California gray whales manage to get trapped by rapidly forming ice surrounding them in Barrow, Alaska. They have been desperately ramming upward against the ice to keep a hole open so they can breathe. When the story of their plight reaches the rest of the world, Greenpeace gets involved, intending to save the whales.

The Greenpeace representative wants the governor to allow the National Guard to deploy a helicopter with a hoverbarge that can break the ice. The hoverbarge however is owned by an enemy of Greenpeace, the Alaskan Northern Oil company, who want drilling rights in that area. What's more, a local native people, the Inupat had plans to harvest the whales to protect their own way of life and survival. So we can see how this story depicts tough negotiations between factions and how can one best deal with multiple parties involved in an issue.

Answer: Hidden Figures

In "Hidden Figures," Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae are hired to put their math smarts to the test while negotiating the institutionalized racism that exists even at as forward-thinking a culture as The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The film provides a look at workplace discrimination.

Answer: Moneyball

Brad Pitt plays the real life Billy Beane in "Moneyball" who despite a small budget, was able to acquire underrated players using a different approach to computer-generated analytics. The film demonstrates how data-driven business statistics too often yield outcomes that don't always shine light upon what is really happening behind those statistics.

There are often non-obvious elements to statistics that we don't examine. For instance in football, one may look at a team's total passing yards in a game and observe that the number is very high. That may lead us to think, "Oh boy that team is a really good passing team!" But actually, in many instances, the only reason a team might have many passing yards is because they are constantly trailing in games and they desperately need to catch up quickly and the only way to do that is by passing all the time because running the ball eats up too much time - time that they can't afford to waste. Thinking outside the box is often key to overcoming the disadvantage of competing against rivals with bigger financial resources.

Answer: Matt Damon

In an attempt to cope wife his wife's death, Benjamin Mee, played by Matt Damon, buys a house that has a zoo attached to it. Anyone can probably see what's coming next: handling the the zoo is a bigger project than he anticipated. The zoo needs renovating, and Benjamin teams up with Kelly Foster (played by Scarlett Johansson), the head zookeeper to try and work on making the zoo profitable again. So it does raise the question of whether Benjamin would have bought the zoo in the first place if he had done his due diligence and learned how much the zoo needed fixing up.

Answer: The Pursuit of Happyness

Will Smith plays Chris Gardner in "The Pursuit of Happyness", based on a true story about a man who takes custody of his young son (played by Jaden Smith, Will's real-life son) while trying to make a success of selling bone density medical scanners. The worst case scenario emerges however, and they don't sell nearly as well as he needed in order to earn enough to pay rent.

The devices are only slightly better than x-ray machines, but they cost considerably more money. He and his son wind up homeless, living out of a car.

But he perseveres, and takes a huge risk in deciding to apply for an internship to become a stockbroker, which even IF he gets (amongst 20 applicants) is still just an internship, and is NON-PAYING! But he assesses the risk, and studies hard.

He also needs to keep his homelessness secret, and he needs to sell his last six scanners to keep temporarily solvent. The odds against him feel impossible, but... he perseveres. It's funny that so often one hears acting students for instance ask stars who come to lecture about what's more important, luck, talent, studying with this method or that method, but they always leave out the single most important factor: perseverance. That's what Chris Gardner relies on and because of it, in the end he becomes a stockbroker with the prominent company, Dean Witter.

Answer: Jerry Maguire

One must forge their own path to success. The film is actually scattered with many business/philosophy bon mots by Mr. Steinberg addressing the camera inbetween scenes of Jerry Maguire's (Tom Cruise's) journey to become a better agent after being fired. Jerry hopes that by working with fewer clients he will establish stronger working relationships.

The film looks at the struggles with confidence accompanying someone when they leave their comfort zone and strike out on their own forming a new business venture. "Jerry Maguire" is an amazing film, beginning at a point where most films with this narrative premise would actually start to end - the worker, finally so unhappy with his role in a company, says enough is enough, gets up and leaves determined to strike out on his own, followed by a woman who sees something in him. That's how a lot of films would end.

But "Jerry Maguire" begins there, and asks the question, "How do you define success?"