A few years ago, just as Hollywood was approaching the height of its current obsession with brands, studios started buying up the movie rights to several popular and well-known board games in order to turn them into feature films. Although we are still waiting for adaptations of Candy Land, Risk, and yes, Hungry Hungry Hippos, we did already get movies based on Battleship and Ouija. The first one was a major box office bomb while the other was a modest success. Apparently that was enough to encourage Lionsgate to move forward with another board game movie that has been in development for a while now: Monopoly. This week they have announced that they have hired Andrew Niccol (Gattaca) to write the screenplay. Lionsgate co-president Erik Feig had this to say:

“Hasbro is a partner with incredible global reach, one of the most compelling brand portfolios in the world, and a signature brand in Monopoly that has multigenerational appeal… Andrew Niccol is the ultimate world creator responsible for such disparate and imaginative films as The Truman Show, Gattaca and The Terminal. 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.”

The Monopoly movie was originally set up at Universal Pictures with Ridley Scott on board as a producer, but it eventually fell apart after they ended their strategic partnership a few years later. At the time, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, Big Eyes) were writing the script, but it sounds like they may be starting over again from scratch. The story supposedly “centers on a boy from the game’s modest Baltic Avenue on a quest to make a fortune.”

I remain somewhat fascinated by this project, although I don’t have much hope for it even with Niccol involved. His filmography is somewhat inconsistent, although he does have a knack for high concept stuff. Lionsgate is also in the process of developing Ouija 2 with Hasbro. Would you pay to see a Monopoly movie? Do you think this project will actually see the light of day?