Back in 2009, Sony picked up the rights to classic global domination strategy board game Risk like an excitable youngster told they can have anything in the local toyshop. But like so many childish things, the first blush of excitement faded and since then the project has been put away to languish on the development shelf, gathering dust while the studio tried to figure out what to do with it. Well, now the concept has been taken down, dusted off and handed to writer John Hlavin to play with.
More accurately, Hlavin is the man charged with cooking up what is being described as a contemporary global action thriller loosely based on the game, which is traditionally fought between historical armies. And while the actual game doesn’t have characters, there’s at least scope for an epic war film of some description.
But that will be for Hlavin to figure out. A veteran of top notch cop show The Shield, Hlavin has been working steadily on films in the last few years, including The Gunslinger for Warner Bros., which landed him on the Black List, and the latest Underworld sequel, New Dawn.
Oh, and trivia note: as Deadline points out, the original game was invented back in 1957 by Albert Lamorisse, who directed classic short The Red Balloon in 1956. No idea whether that means a decent movie can be made from the thing, though…