Adding to the recent slew of board game movie adaptations, Sony Pictures have picked up the rights to Risk, Hasbro's strategy game in which players vie for global hegemony by destroying each other's armies and generally hanging around in Greenland.

Risk is one adaptation that's come out of leftfield, even considering Hollywood's recent rush to transform everything dice-related into movie properties. Unlike Candyland and Monopoly, the game has no obvious universe or characters, aside from little plastic men with cannon, although it does offer a globally-recognised brand Sony are no doubt keen to exploit.

A 'risky' business then? Tssk, says Columbia president Doug Belgrad. "The strategic thinking and the tactical gambles that players must take in the game are what make Risk a classic, thoroughly engaging game. Those elements translated into an action-packed, thrilling story are what will make this a uniquely exciting movie."

While our memories of Risk from Christmases past are a little hazy, it's a game that seemed to involve laying waste to large swathes of the planet and seems tailor made for a joke involving Roland Emmerich that's too obvious to make here.

Final choice of director will be the domain of Bennett Schneir and Hasbro CEO (and very canny man) Brian Goldner, though, who've signed on to produce.