Well, we don't know what to think about this. Universal has signed a deal with toy company Hasbro to make at least four films over six years based on their properties. According to the press release, this could include some of the "world's best-known and beloved brands, including 'Monopoly,' 'Clue,' 'Ouija,' 'Battleship,' 'Magic, the Gathering' and 'Stretch Armstrong.'"
This gives Universal exclusive license to make films based on Hasbro properties, except for Transformers and G.I. Joe, because Paramount already owns the rights to those. The first movie will be released in 2010.
Sorry, Universal, but it seems like Paramount might have got the best ones. Stretch Armstrong: The Movie? That was just a guy who had the power to become a lot longer and thinner and then eventually lose his shape after you tried to make him cover the full length of the garden. Granted, he had a dog that did the same thing, but is that a plot. And Battleships? That's just an action sequence in a war movie, but with giant people getting bored and abandoning the board to go and play Swing-ball.
This seems to be taking the toys-into-movies trend to bizarre lengths. We're still waiting to hear that the announcement that Ridley Scott will make a Monopoly movie is just an elaborate practical joke. But we could be wrong. Maybe Rummikub and Easy-Bake Oven could be the basis for cinematic milestones. And we could actually imagine sitting through a Mousetrap movie.
What do you think? Which toy would you like to see turned into a movie?