It’s official, Hollywood loves a tech origin story. After boring us to death with any number of superhero prequels exploring the genesis of characters we hardly knew existed, the film industry has set its sights on the digital innovation arc. The trend is set to continue with Disney+ and Walter Presents nabbing the rights to Mobile 101, a Nokia Story for several regions. The film is set to chart the iconic Finnish company’s categoric rise and attempted revival.
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Once a leader in the mobile phone space, Nokia was synonymous with high-quality (not to mention robust) products, however, the advent of iPhones and Android smartphones saw things take a turn for the worse for the Finnish company. Failing to get with the times, Nokia only lost a majority of its market share but also failed to bounce back.
Mobile 101, a Nokia Story is a six-episode Finnish drama TV series that tells the captivating story of the former rubber bootmaker that went on to become the king of mobile technology. The series mainly concentrates on the years 1988–1990 when Nokia was hard at work developing its first GSM phone, the Nokia 101.
Directed and written by Maarit Lalli, the series narrates the tale of how Nokia switched from making rubber boots to mobile phones in the 1990s and is told through the perspectives of lawyers, engineers and executive management.
Produced by Rabbit Films, Mobile 101, a Nokia Story first aired in April 2022 and was originally commissioned by MTV3 Finland and CMore for Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Variety now reports that the series has been picked by Disney+ for Italy, Netherlands and Belgium, whereas Walter Presents bought it for the UK & Ireland. RUV Iceland has also acquired the series for its debut season. However, it’s currently unknown when the series will be hitting the streaming network.
During the big announcement, Jonathan Tuovinen, head of international at Rabbit Films said, “We are extremely happy to announce this first round of international sales of ‘Mobile 101,’ and to bring this quintessentially Finnish story to audiences outside of the Nordics. We all grew up with a Nokia mobile phone, so this unique series has really resonated with buyers, and we hope that audiences around the world will be both entertained and informed by this amazing nostalgia-evoking series.”
The cast for the series includes Sampo Sarkola, Kristo Salminen, Rafael Edholm, Aku Sipola, Satu-Tuuli Karhu and Emil Kihlström as well as a few international cast members namely Adam Bond, Jonathan Harboe and Carmen Gloria Pérez. Walter Iuzzolino of Walter Presents lauded the series for its “sharp writing” and excellent direction and photography, saying, “Sharp writing, strong performances by a brilliant ensemble cast and gorgeous direction and photography make this a delicious treat for all lovers of great subtitled drama.”
The new Nokia origin story announcement comes just months after Blackberry, the story of the ‘other’ former world-beating mobile phone debuted a new trailer. The Jay Baruchel-led comedy film will chart the enigmatic people behind the Blackberry phone, which suffered an eerily similar fate to the original Nokias.
