TAMPA — Sony Pictures Entertainment has a heck of a Christmas present planned for the National Football League.
On Dec. 25, the film “Concussion,” starring Will Smith, hits theaters in a widespread release that will hardly be welcomed by a $10 billion industry. Directed by former investigative journalist Peter Landesman, the movie focuses on the efforts of Pittsburgh-based forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu to investigate the links between NFL collisions and brain traumas over time.
The movie is based on a 2009 article in “GQ” magazine entitled “Game Brain.”
The film was screened in Los Angeles last week and according to critics, depicts a league of mercenaries more interested in protecting the NFL brand than encouraging further research into CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a degenerative brain disease that has been found to be prevalent in some deceased NFL players.