While writers and directors will always focus on the many things that
drive humans, such as romance, rivalry, and achievement, there’s long been
a penchant for making films about the more mundane things in life. Back in
2010, the horror movie Rubber took that interest to its logical extreme,
introducing an evil tire and performing far better with audiences than it
had any right to.
Kevin Hart
Movies about board games are a tad rarer, with another horror, Ouija,
standing as one of the few examples. However, Monopoly’s trademark owner
has been trying to get a related movie out the door since the 2010s. This
seemingly harebrained plan does make sense in that Monopoly has already
been converted into several kinds of media already, including video games
and casino slots.
In the latter case,
casino gambling at Paddy Power
allows players to join a live version of Monopoly, complete with a human
host. The game melds wheel-based gameplay with augmented reality and
includes several classic features of the board game, including the Chance
option and Mr Monopoly himself. The recognisable character appears in a 3D
bonus game that reproduces the original game board.
Inevitably, that kind of popularity outside game night is enticing for
movie studios, and the most recent attempt to
get Monopoly off the ground
and into cinemas began in 2019 when actor and comedian Kevin Hart signed
up as the lead. Unfortunately, there’s been no news at all related to
production since, suggesting that the apparent curse that has been
following the film around for the past decade is still very much in
place.
That said, productions like The Queen's Gambit took decades to come to
fruition despite numerous moviemakers expressing interest in the
book-to-film adaptation. The Queen's Gambit was only familiar to a niche
pocket of bookworms and achieved success, while Monopoly is globally
recognised and beloved. If it took so long for an obscure novel to make it
big as a Netflix original series, perhaps the Monopoly movie, whenever it
transpires, truly will be worth the wait.
Ridley Scott
To date, there have been two attempts to create a Monopoly film, one of
which involved Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator director Ridley Scott.
The second would have been written by The Truman Show’s Andrew Niccol.
Oddly enough, the movie’s potential storyline seems to have survived the
conveyor belt of directors and writers, albeit with a few minor additions
along the way.
Focusing on Baltic Avenue, the second poorest property in the American
version of the game, after Mediterranean Ave., Monopoly would have told a
tale of long-buried secrets, underground railways, and general urban
swashbuckling. All things considered, it sounds like much more of a
feel-good outing than the board game, which is notorious for causing
fights among its players.
The apparent troubles that have faced production of the Monopoly movie
might sound a little strange, considering that sales of the game reached
their highest ever level in 2020. However, it’s not easy to see what
audience the film would target. Given the subject matter of the board
game, a movie similar in theme to
The Wolf of Wall Street
might have been a better bet, especially when Scott was involved.
Overall, Monopoly seems to be doing well for itself. It’s just a shame
that its popularity hasn’t translated into a silver screen adaptation,
just yet.