It was directed by Bennett Miller with a script by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin from a story by Stan Chervin, starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright and Chris Pratt.

Moneyball premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and was released on September 23, 2011, to box office success and critical acclaim, particularly for its acting and screenplay.

The Oakland Athletics (A's) of Major League Baseball have difficulty fielding competitive teams due to low revenue and owners who are reluctant to spend money.

General manager Billy Beane drafts and develops cheap, young, and talented players,[a] but the A's lose the 2001 American League Division Series (ALDS) to the New York Yankees, baseball's richest and most successful team.

Unable to afford five-tool players, Beane and Brand focus on maximizing the team's on-base percentage (OBP) and compromise on skills like base stealing, defense, and batting average.

Manager Art Howe, who is angling for a contract extension, disregards Brand's advice to put the players with the best OBP at the top of the batting order.

However, Boston Red Sox owner John W. Henry realizes that the A's lost primarily because of random chance and their small budget.

Tempted by the opportunity to implement his ideas on a larger budget, Beane discloses Henry's offer to Brand and says that their strategy failed.

An epilogue reveals that the Red Sox utilized sabermetrics to win the 2004 World Series, prompting other teams to embrace Beane's philosophy.

[10] By October 2008, Brad Pitt was being courted to star in the film, now being written by Steven Zaillian, and David Frankel was attached to direct.

The cited reason for the cancellation was that, upon a last-minute script revision by Soderbergh that added "an abundance of baseball details", studio executives felt the audience would feel alienated.

[16] Soderbergh revealed he exited the film in a September 2009 interview with The Orlando Sentinel, saying, "There have been a couple of times in my career where I've been unceremoniously removed from projects.

[17] In December 2009, Bennett Miller was hired to direct the film,[18] with the casting of Jonah Hill, who was replacing Martin as DePodesta, announced in March 2010.

[19] DePodesta's name was removed upon his request as he felt the script no longer accurately depicted him; Hill was given the role of a DePodesta-like "Peter Brand.

[23] Cinematographer Adam Kimmel was initially set to work on the film, but due to his April 2010 arrest for sexual assault, was replaced by Wally Pfister.

For the role of Billy Beane’s daughter, Miller auditioned several young actresses before selecting Kerris Dorsey, whose performance included a rendition of Lenka's The Show.

[35] Principal photography took place over 58 days, with filming locations including Dodger Stadium, the Oakland Coliseum, and Fenway Park.

David Haglund of Slate and Jonah Keri of Grantland criticized the film and book for excluding pitchers Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito and position players such as Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada--all discovered via traditional scouting methods, and key contributors to the success of the 2002 Athletics.

[3] The film grossed $19.5 million from 2,993 theaters in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office behind the 3D re-release of The Lion King.

The website's critical consensus reads: "Director Bennett Miller, along with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, take a niche subject and turn it into a sharp, funny, and touching portrait worthy of baseball lore.

[48] Roger Ebert, in his four-star review, praised the film for its "intelligence and depth", specifically highlighting the screenplay and its "terse, brainy dialogue.

[50] Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers also praised Pitt's performance, in addition to Miller's direction and the screenplay, which he referred to as "dynamite".

[53] Brian Eggert, owner and film critic of Deep Focus Review, said "even if you don't care much for baseball or sports in general, traces of a very human underdog drama come through to render the experience a universally consumable one."

In his review for New York magazine, David Edelstein said that Pitt's performance made the film more focused towards Beane as opposed to the team.

"[55] Writing in Slant Magazine, Bill Weber praised Pitt's performance, but found the film formulaic: "But true to Hollywood's tireless efforts to fit square-peg material into roundish genre niches, this wavering, intermittently smart story of daring to think differently flattens its narrative into formula."

"[56] Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle found the film to be filled with compromises, writing, "Someone crammed Major League-style sports cliches into a more nuanced story about baseball and progress – and then tried to fit a Brad Pitt star vehicle inside of that.