Good news for fans of the popular property board game, Monopoly. Hasbro and Lionsgate have teamed and will be bringing Monopoly to the big screen!
The toy-maker announced the movie deal Wednesday, as reported on Polygon, with Lionsgate financing the project, as well as co-producing it with Hasbro's Allspark Pictures. Writer Andrew Niccol, whose notable works includes "The Truman Show," "Gattaca," and "The Terminal," will pen the screenplay.
In a prepared statement by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-president Erik Feig, the movie executive described Monopoly as a "signature brand that has multigenerational appeal." Feig further stated that Hasbro is a partner with "incredible global reach," and has one of the most compelling brand portfolios in the world. He added, "Andrew Niccol is the ultimate world creator... He is an inspired choice to develop this timeless property into a big, crowd-pleasing event film that will appeal to kids, families and anyone who has ever played the Monopoly game."
According to the press release, Monopoly will be a "film for all ages, visually sumptuous, heartwarming and full of action and adventure. The movie's story will revolve around "a boy from Baltic Avenue who uses both Chance and Community in a quest to make his fortune, taking him on a fun, adventure-filled journey. It's about making your own luck, what makes you truly rich and, of course, avoiding Jail time!"
This isn't the first time that plans were made to create a Monopoly based film or its movie version, reports Deadline. Director Ridley Scott planned a Monopoly movie in 2008, about a fan of the game who magically gets imported into its world. Universal apparently objected to the movie's underlying message, which was about greed. The studio ended up scrapping its production deal with Hasbro. Three years back, Emmett/Furla Films also planned to finance and co-produce three films based on Hasbro properties, including the board game. Unfortunately, that project did not proceed past the development stage.
The two companies noted that Monopoly has been played by more than 1 billion people in 114 countries around the world and has been translated into 47 different languages. The original game was released in 1903.
