Movie based on darknet market Silk Road premiering in February

Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht’s story is coming to the silver screen in 2021 following an announcement from major entertainment company Lionsgate.

According to Deadline, Lionsgate has acquired the rights to the Silk Road movie and plans to release the feature in theaters and online starting on Feb. 19. The film will reportedly be based on the 2014 Rolling Stone article Dead End on Silk Road, focusing on the lead up to Ulbricht’s arrest as the founder of the darknet marketplace.

Nick Robinson, the 25-year-old American actor from Jurassic World, will portray Ulbricht, who is now 36 and serving two life sentences in federal prison. He was found guilty of money laundering, computer hacking, and conspiracy to traffic narcotics.

Ulbricht’s story has appeared in major media on more than one occasion. Last month, CBS aired a documentary about the takedown of the Silk Road dark web marketplace featuring an interview with Ulbricht’s ex-girlfriend. The Silk Road movie was originally scheduled to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.

The Silk Road founder was arrested by the FBI in 2013 and will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ulbricht still provides occasional analyses on the Bitcoin market on his Medium blog from the U.S. Penitentiary in Tucson.