Look, Barbie was great and all, but maybe we made a mistake giving it so much of our hard-earned money. After Mattel unleashed IP hell, actor-producer Margot Robbie has been on a rampage, first securing an adaptation of The Sims (probably a good fit) and now turning her sights to… Monopoly, which sounds like a much harder sell in today’s climate.
Via Variety, we learned on April 10 that Robbie’s production company LuckyChap will be producing “a live-action feature film based on the ubiquitous real estate-inspired board game” alongside Lionsgate. Hasbro Entertainment, of course, will be involved in the adaptation effort.
The idea of an adaptation of Monopoly has been floating around for a while now if you can remember, and in late 2023, Lionsgate extended its development rights to the board game with its purchase of eOne (previously owned by Hasbro). To the surprise of no one, Monopoly remains one of the world’s most popular board games, receiving countless iterations over the years, spin-off products, merchandising, and highly successful video games such as Monopoly Go! on mobile. In fact, Monopoly has been around since 1935, which is a shocking fact for anyone who’s not really into board game history.
The announcement happened during the CinemaCon 2024 event, where Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson hinted that LuckyChap has “a clear point of view” on the upcoming ‘Monopoly’ movie. This may suggest Robbie and her people will begin the search for writing and directing talent sooner rather than later. It’s definitely too early to tell whether she plans to act in the tentatively planned movie, but we wouldn’t be surprised, especially if they’re planning to subvert our expectations.
Hasbro and Lionsgate also shared excitement over the project, but it’s all the usual corporate talk you’d expect. In fact, we can imagine their eyes turning into dollar signs like greedy cartoon characters. But hey, maybe this movie’s whole character arc is about a guy who questions rampant capitalism at least partially, even if it won’t be able to fully escape the system that’s producing it. We won’t hold our collective breath though.