Yep, you read it right… the game of global domination is coming to the big screen. Apparently Universal isn’t the only studio getting into the business of making movies based on board games. Sony Pictures announced today via their Twitter account that they had “acquired motion picture rights to classic board game RISK”. No other details were made available at this time, but it is a Hasbro property, which means that Sony probably stole it away from Universal, who signed a 6-year strategic partnership deal with Hasbro earlier this year. (They are currently developing movies based on Monopoly, Candy Land, and Battleship, among others.) Perhaps the rights were still owned by the estate of French film director Albert Lamorisse, who invented the game back in 1957?

At any rate, I’m wondering if Sony actually ended up scoring the game with the most cinematic potential of the bunch here. I mean, sure there aren’t any characters associated with the game, but the possibilities are endless for a generic war movie — especially one that delves into the strategic elements of planning a campaign. It will still require a writer and director with a bit of talent to make it worthwhile, but somehow it seems like less of a stretch than most of these other board game movies. I know one thing… Risk has a pretty hardcore following among the geek crowd, so at least they’ve got that going for them. Feel free to debate the potential brilliance and/or insanity of a Risk movie in the comments below.