HASBRO AND UNIVERSAL RESHUFFLING THEIR CLUE, MONOPOLY, AND MAGIC:TG CARDS

Every Gore Verbinski project that isn't Bioshock just angries my blood, but I can't say he wouldn't be a pretty great fit for Clue. That Candy Land project could either be a pretentious disaster, or a fucking blast, depending on how seriously they take it, and I kinda can't wait. That a Magic The Gathering movie might happen kinda makes me want to weep with shame.

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Originally Posted by Anakin's Dad 

As one of CHUD's most adamant M:TG supporters, I think a Brother's War movie could work if given the proper attention and care.

100% agreed. There's a cool character-rooted story to be told against a really cool backdrop there.

After watching the trailer for Battleship, I now think any board games can be made, even the bored ones, because they can insert a Sports Illustrated supermodel and alien spaceship to anything if they want.

Best part of the Brothers War (the book of it is fantastic in a fantasy/adventure way) is that practically everything else in the M:TG universe in some way spins off of it, leading to endless...sequels! It'd be fabulous, like a steampunk Harry Potter, and people love stories about two brothers fighting it out for supremacy.

Kamahl's story is pretty great for cinema. Hell, the arrogant, rage filled warrior becomes a humble hero for the people is basically all the comic book movies out there, right? Could give The Rock a franchise, and I for one think The Rock needs a franchise.

Now a Weatherlight film; it's like pirates but in the sky, could be pretty fun.

At the very least, at Magic has a fucking story to it. I mean, if they can pull something out of their ass for Battleship, they'll have cinema gold with this property. And they will always have a tie in product, as the series re-ups itself every year or so.

Wait, making CLUE more "global"? It's a housebound murder mystery, for Christ's sakes, not THE BOURNE WHODUNNIT.

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Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather 

Wait, making CLUE more "global"? It's a housebound murder mystery, for Christ's sakes, not THE BOURNE WHODUNNIT.

But they'll have a cool secret passageway to get from, say, Berlin to New York (well, probably Vancouver, but still...)

Please let a Candy Land movie be as gloriously stupid as this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD6bUdLakmQ

I never understood the anger surrounding board games being optioned, because for the most part what the studio is buying is a title and a single, broad element.  A Clue movie has to have a murder.  A Battleship movie has to have battleships.  A Risk movie has to have big battles.  There's waaaay more room for creativity and invention in one of those than in your average remake/threequel/toy line option.  The Candyland movie sounds hilariously misguided, but I was excited to see a Peter Berg naval warfare movie no matter what name he has to slap on it to get funding (I admit, the alien pegs shot in the trailer does leave me scratching my head a bit). 

As for Magic, I'm surprised it didn't get rushed through production somewhere in the middle of the slew of shitty fantasy projects in the last 5-7 years.  I don't remember the cards super well, but I recall the storylines being pretty loosely sketched, so there should be plenty of room to color within the lines . What they're really buying is the setting(s), which are varied and colorful, and the basic concept, which is awesome (STEAMPUNK WIZARD FIGHT!!!).   There's no reason why a writer/director with a modicum of vision couldn't make a rollicking fantasy adventure with those elements.

Of course, modicums of vision are hard to come by in Hollywood, and chances are it will be dull, predictable, and most of all cheap.  You'd think in the post-LOTR/Potter world, it would've sunk in that fantasy can work like gangbusters with audiences, but only if it has actual production value.  You can have cheap comedies, cheap character dramas, cheap horror, even the odd cheap sci-fi flick work, but cheap fantasy just doesn't.

What, no one's going to link to this?

A question for you Magic players: the game has storylines?!?  I thought you squared off against other players with your deck of cards and then just tried to beat them.  Anyone?

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Originally Posted by Mattioli 

A question for you Magic players: the game has storylines?!?  I thought you squared off against other players with your deck of cards and then just tried to beat them.  Anyone?

Pretty much, but there were also a lot of recurring motifs in the names and art and such.  Most of the cards had a little snippet of text under the stats that had a quote from somesuch character or fictional text that gave a loose impression of the game world and its history.  And I gather there is EU books/comics/etc that have fleshed it out further.  But in terms of a "canon" story, I don't think the plots are ever laid out very strictly.  Then again, in the 15 years since I've played that may have changed.

Every set (there are three 'sets' a year, one main, two minor) come out with brand new cards and mechanics that relate to a storyline. Each set has an accompanying book that tells its part of the trilogy. Wasn't always like that, cards just sort of existed without the need for a larger world-building, but WotC has been crafting the decks around stories, and vice versa, for awhile now. Urza and Mishra (The Brother's War) are one of many hugely epic tales the series has told over the years.

It's actually a lot of fun, reading the story then getting this character's card or seeing this particular game mechanic used in a story. Gives it a sense of completeness, I suppose.

Cool.  Thanks for the clarification.  I have a couple of decks from, like, '94 or '95, but never played more than once or twice. 

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Originally Posted by Schwartz 

I never understood the anger surrounding board games being optioned,

More than anything else, it's probably watching a few projects like GDT's Lovecraft getting shot down, and imagining that the money spent on, say, Don't Tip The Waiter! or Hungry Hungry Hippos could have been directed there.

I know, I know, not the same thing, no relation between the two, I get that... but anger's an emotional reaction, not a reasoned one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeb 

More than anything else, it's probably watching a few projects like GDT's Lovecraft getting shot down, and imagining that the money spent on, say, Don't Tip The Waiter! or Hungry Hungry Hippos could have been directed there.

 

I know, I know, not the same thing, no relation between the two, I get that... but anger's an emotional reaction, not a reasoned one.

 

I can sort of see that, and I don't want to make it sound like I'm truly excited about a big screen Connect Four, but all I'm saying is that the concept of most board games is so vague that there's actually more room for original storytelling ideas than in say, a Black Widow solo movie, or the second sequel to the Halloween remake.  Optioning board games is not an encouraging sign, but...it's not much of a sign at all, I guess is the point.   If you tell a great director his next film has to be called Ice Cream Cone, is that really going to prevent him from making a good film?
 

Magic seems like a no-brainer. Shocked it didn't come out during the LOTR and Harry Potter rip-off phase (THE SEEKER, ERAGON, etc). The other stuff? Mostly head-scratchers.

Gore "MOUSEHUNT" Verbinski is a fine fit for CLUE, but only because I love the tone/pace of the Tim Curry original.