The Monopoly movie may at last pass go. (It will surely try to collect more than $200.)
Long discussed as a Hasbro toy that could potentially make a reasonable basis for a movie, the Monopoly film is featured prominently in the news this week as part of the sale of the entertainment studio eOne from toy company Hasbro to the film company Lionsgate.
In the press release, Lionsgate touts that they “will acquire a library that includes titles such as 1917, Atomic Blonde, Green Book, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Renegade and Designated Survivor.” And it also notes “As part of the agreement, Lionsgate also will acquire film development rights to Hasbro’s Monopoly, based on the wildly popular board game.”
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The Monopoly game was first published in the 1930s by Parker Brothers (now owned by Hasbro), and has remained a staple of family entertainment for nearly 100 years. The original game utilizes a board based on locations in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but through the years countless themed versions have been made. (And countless families have been torn asunder by players who forced their loved ones into bankruptcy by devious and underhanded Monopoly tactics.)
Here was Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer’s comment on the news:
The acquisition of eOne checks off all the boxes in areas that play to our core strengths. It will be immediately and highly accretive, adds a world-class library with thousands of properties, strengthens our scripted and unscripted television business and continues to expand our presence in Canada and the UK. The deal is the culmination of our long-standing relationship with the immensely talented team at eOne, and it continues to build our position as one of the world’s leading independent content platforms with a stockpile of great intellectual properties and a unique, non-replicable portfolio of assets.
The last time we heard anything significant about a Monopoly film was early 2019, when it was reported that Kevin Hart was in talks to star in the project. No word yet if Hart is still attached. And of course this renewed hyped about a possible Monopoly movie comes as Barbie is on track to gross more than $1 billion at the box office.
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