Sony Takes Risk: The Film of World Domination

Published by Jeff Leins on: November 5th, 2009

Sony Pictures has acquired the movie rights to the board game “Risk” from Hasbro.  The studio is hoping the “strategic and tactical gameplay” will translate to the silver screen.

The game of world domination was created in 1957 by French film director Albert Lamorisse before it was purchased by Parker Brothers two years later.  Parker Bros was then acquired by Hasbro in 1991. For those of you who haven’t amassed your forces in Kamchatka, Risk is a turn based board game for 2 to 6 players where you try to capture territories and control the world with your army.

In the trade paper announcement, Columbia Pictures President Doug Belgrad cites the success of franchises like Transformers and G.I. Joe as reason enough to pour more money into rainy day nostalgia.

The studios, especially Universal, seem to be moving aggressively forward with these toy and board game adaptations. Video game movies didn’t seem to pay off (though Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the most expensive one yet), so they’re strangely shifting to properties with even less story.

Universal is already working on another Clue with Pirates director Gore Verbinski, a Monopoly movie with Ridley Scott, Candy land: The Movie with director Kevin Lima, Battleship with Peter Berg, and a Ouija Board horror movie from Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes production company.  Plus Stretch Armstrong, View-Master, Lego, and Barbie movies are in the early stages of development.

Unlike just about all of those toys, Risk has the potential to be an epic movie where nations go to war with one another.  As long as they don’t take this in a cheesy Jumanji direction, I can see a film full of trench warfare, cannon battles, and war room drama.