According to Variety, the long-in-development Monopoly movie is finally moving forward following Lionsgate‘s official acquisition of Hasbro’s Entertainment One/eOne TV and film operations.
The deal, which reportedly cost the studio around $500 million, includes a “content library of nearly 6,500 titles” and “active productions for non-Hasbro owned IP like The Rookie, Yellowjackets, and Naked and Afraid franchises.” Also part of the merger is Lionsgate and Hasbro’s continued partnership for the film adaptation of Monopoly, based on the classic multiplayer tabletop board game.
“Lionsgate’s management team is experienced in entertainment and adept at driving value, and we’re glad to have found such a good home for our eOne film & TV business,” Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said in a statement. “We look forward to partnering with them, especially on a movie adaptation of Monopoly. Entertainment remains a priority for Hasbro. Hasbro will continue to develop and produce entertainment based on the rich vault of Hasbro-owned brands. We will also bring to life new original ideas designed to fuel all areas of Hasbro’s blueprint including toys, publishing, gaming, licensed consumer products, and location-based entertainment. As part of the sale, we expect to move to an asset-lite model for future live action entertainment, relying on licensing and partnerships with select co-productions.”
The Monopoly Movie’s Development Over the Years
This isn’t the first time that studios attempted to adapt Monopoly into a live-action movie. The first one was back in 2008 when the film rights to the game were still at Universal Pictures, who tried to produce the adaptation with Ridley Scott previously attached to direct. However, it was eventually scrapped after the right reverted back to Hasbro.
In 2015, Lionsgate announced that they’re developing an action adventure film based on the said game with Andrew Niccol initially slated to pen the screenplay. The project was ultimately abandoned after no updates were released about it. In 2019, it was reported that Kevin Hart has signed on to lead and produce an untitled Monopoly movie. It remains unclear if Hart is still attached to the project or if the upcoming adaptation from Lionsgate and Hasbro would be a new iteration.
The demand for toy-based movies has been increasing over the years due to the popularity of the Transformers franchise. Because of the massive success of Mattel’s live-action Barbie movie, it seems that now would be the right time for studios to produce movies based on iconic and beloved toys.
