<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $14 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $233.6 million </Td> </Tr> <P> The Imitation Game is a 2014 American historical drama directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore loosely based on the biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges (which was previously adapted as the stage play and BBC drama Breaking the Code). It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as real - life British cryptanalyst Alan Turing, who decrypted German intelligence codes for the British government during the Second World War . Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance and Mark Strong also star . </P> <P> The film's screenplay topped the annual Black List for best unproduced Hollywood scripts in 2011 . The Weinstein Company acquired the film for $7 million in February 2014, the highest amount ever paid for U.S. distribution rights at the European Film Market . It was released theatrically in the United States on 28 November 2014 . </P>

What is the movie the imitation game about