HOLLYWOOD—It was announced this week that the classic board game Monopoly has a film adaptation in the works. The Santa Monica-based film studio Lionsgate will be financing the project, which as of yet has no release date. Oscar-nominated film writer Andrew Niccol, who penned “The Truman Show,” has been hired to write the script for the film.
According to the officially released film description, “the story centers on 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.” Baltic Avenue is, of course, one of the game’s iconic landing spots on its board. So far, no cast or other crew members besides Niccol have been hired for the film yet.
This will be the second campaign to make a Monopoly movie, following an effort in 2009 that ultimately fell through. Ridley Scott is said to have been attached to the would-be project.
The current incarnation of Monopoly was created by the Parker Brothers in the 1930’s and has since seen countless variations in almost 50 languages and in more than 100 countries.
The Monopoly movie isn’t the first film centered on a classic board game. In 1985, the popular game Clue was made into feature film starring Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn. Most recently, “Battleship” was also given a live screen adaptation starring Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna in 2012.
Although both films were box-office failures, there is optimism for the new Monopoly movie: stocks for Hasbro and Lionsgate both subtly rose following the project’s announcement on Wednesday.
The Monopoly movie will be produced by Lionsgate and Hasbro Allspark Pictures, the company that also brought last year’s “Ouija” onto the screen.
