The Game Is Afoot: Hasbro ‘Clue’ Movie Gets A Redo

Clue, the Hollywood flop that became a cult classic was the first board game to ever be turned into a movie. Now it may become the first movie based on a board game to receive a redo. This week it was announced that Hasbro would be working with 20th Century Fox on a re-imagining of Clue that would not be confined to that of just one mansion, but would become a “worldwide mystery,” and according to Tracking Board, the new movie would feature action-adventure elements as well, which sounds nothing like the 1985 murder mystery comedy.

Josh Feldman, who has been with Hasbro since 2014, will be producing the new Clue with more plans involving other Hasbro properties including Monopoly, Risk, and Candy Land. Previously, Clue was on tap to get a reboot back in 2011 by Universal Pictures, but after the disastrous results from 2012’s Battleship, the project was dropped.

The 1985 version of Clue was written by John Landis and was directed by Jonathan Lynn. It starred Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, and Lesley Ann Warren. Just like when playing the board game in real life, the “killer” and their mode for killing is never the same twice, the Clue movie was released with three different endings. At the time, if you wanted to see how things would play out a different way, you would need to see the movie again at a different theater. Clue initially received poor reviews grossing just $14,643,997, just shy of the $15 million budget.

According to Games Radar, Clue began to become a cult classic when VHS machines first hit the market. The film’s original VHS price tag of $100 was “slashed” to just $20 making it much more affordable for families.

Can we start locking up Hollywood movie executives? They are a danger to themselves and others https://t.co/gxkOhyKFPn

— chad dukes (@chaddukes) August 19, 2016

Over the years, Hasbro has had a love/hate relationship with movie audiences. Many of the Hasbro movie productions have been panned by critics, but have created a healthy fan base regardless. One of Hasbro biggest movie success stories comes from the 2014 release of Ouija. Produced on a $5 million budget, the movie received negative reviews but brought in $103 million in ticket sales. (The prequel Ouija: Origin of Evil is set for release on October 21.) The 2009 film G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra also made a nice profit making $302.5 million off of a $175 million budget. The follow up film, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, released in 2013 also did well making $375.7 million from a $130 million budget. And or course, there is the Transformers franchise that has no trouble selling tickets.

However, these successes aren’t always the rule. In 2015, Hasbro and Blumhouse Productions released Jem and the Holograms which was not well received with either critics or movie goers. Created with a $5 million budget, the film only brought in $2.3 million in ticket sales.

Hasbro isn’t just making movies either. Just a week after this year’s Tony Awards presentation, it was announced that Hasbro and the Araca Group were working on a new Broadway musical based on the Monopoly board game.

“It’s not going to be a musical about people sitting around playing Monopoly. What turns us on is creating something that explores the world of Monopoly, kind of like the Lego movies have done with Legos,” said Matthew Rego of the Araca Group at the time. Araca has been known for producing some of the most popular and profitable Broadway productions to date including Wicked, Shuffle Along, and The Book of Mormon. If Monopoly: The Musical goes well, expect to see more Hasbro influence in amusement parks, cruise ships, and more.

[Photo by UP Images]