5 Board Games That Will Probably Become Movies
3. Hungry Hungry Hippos
Potential Plot: A CGI-animated movie about a bloat of hippos (yup, that’s their collective noun) forced to leave their home on a game reserve in South Africa after it’s decimated by a flash flood. In search of food and a new place to call their own, they encounter a wide array of delightful animal characters. Meanwhile, an overzealous hunter pursues them for a large reward.
Cast: Kevin James (Papa Hippo), Jenna Fischer (Mamma Hippo), Michael Cera (Son Hippo), Aubrey Plaza (Daughter Hippo) and Nicholas Cage (The Hunter). Look for small comedic turns from Harrison Ford (Grumpy Capybara) and Fred Willard (Psychic Gazelle).
Chance It Could Happen? Plausible. As long as the market for children’s films about talking animals remains afloat, the possibility remains.
4. Life
Potential Plot: A couple goes from first kiss to seeing their last child graduate college in this generational drama about the power of relationships and the challenges of adulthood.
Cast: Katherine Heigl (Amy), Bradley Cooper (Greg), Abigail Breslin (Daughter), Zac Efron (Son), Naomi Watts (Greg’s Co-Worker Who He Almost Sleeps With), Chris Cooper (Amy’s Boss), Charlie Day (Son’s Outlandish Teacher) and Diane Keaton (Amy’s Mom).
Chance It Could Happen? High. Life is the perfect fodder for a screenplay that’s already been written but in need of an angle. The game itself is entirely devoid of a plot, but by marketing said screenplay as “based on the best-selling American board game” Hollywood may gain some added interest.
5. Guess Who?
I don’t buy this guy having an epic beard but no mustache.
Potential Plot: Think Saw, but with 100 suspects. An elite costume company’s annual gala ball is interrupted by the brutal murder of its CEO during a “staged” skit. Everyone, in various masks and costumes produced by the company, immediately becomes a suspect. The group quickly realizes that the CEO’s young daughter has gone missing as well. Recently fired employee Peter Kemp, attending only to reveal a dark secret about the CEO, must clear himself of any suspicion and lead the search to find the killer and his prey.
Cast: Mark Wahlberg (Peter Kemp), Jason Issacs (CEO), Olivia Wilde (Phoebe Marcus), John Turturro (Frankie Potts), Jackie Earle Haley (Martin Nash) and Bryan Cranston (Detective Jim Munson).
Chance It Could Happen? Pretty much none. Although, of all the movies I invented, this is the one I’d most want to see. If you had the cast above and a half-decent plot, why ruin it by drawing a connection to a child’s game? Oh right: money.
I like that you realized a “Life” movie would likely very reminiscent of movies like Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve.
The thing about battleship is they seemingly chose a licensed IP in order to make extra money so it would have some name recognition. But if they ignored that and made the EXACT same movie and called it something like “SS kick the alien’s ass” it wouldn’t get mocked nearly as much because honestly, it looks like a pretty fun action movie. But how many people won’t see it because the idea of a battelship movie is fucking retarded?
Am I the only one who has seen a distinct difference between the first trailer for Battleship and the last? The first was more or less the “ooh, we are trapped inside a dome with some aliens”, and the last “fuck the ip! Let’s do it the transformers meets transformers 3-way!”?
Number 5 could actually be a very interesting and psycological movie.
I definitely went off and downloaded Clue after reading this article. I forgot it was even a movie, and I certainly never knew Tim Curry was in it, or I would have gone out of my way to see it a long time ago.
Funny thing about Clue is, when it was being shown in theaters, it had a different ending depending on where you saw it. Why can’t they do that more often with movies? It would be a cool idea to use if they ever make the Mass Effect games into movies. As for Battleship, between Disney making a successful franchise from an amusement park ride and me needing stuff to do with my 12-year-old nephew this summer, I’ll give it a chance.
I think the time is right for a Hungry, Hungry, Hippo’s game. With CGI, we could have a community of anthropomorphic hippos who live in a land where for some reason, there is way too much food. Every year, a teenage hippo is picked from each area to compete where they must eat so much of the food. But, every once in awhile, a bomb is thrown into the mess and the hippo kids must not eat the bomb, or they will explode. The last hippo who hasn’t died of overeating or exploding food is the winner. It could be the anti hunger games movie.
Aaaaand stupidly, I realized you already did that idea. I’m going to crawl back under my rock now.
i know its not a board game, but i wish there was a movie for Magic: the Gathering.
Why no Stratego?
There is actually a good novel based on ‘The Settlers of Catan’. I don’t know, if it was released in the US, but it’s available in Germany for almost 10 years. I’m actually shocked, they did no a movie by now and still hope, it will be announced in the next few years.
Also, it is pretty clear imho, Klaus Teuber and the Catan GmbH would not grant the license if the script is rubbish.
Don’t forget there’s the Dungeons & Dragons films… even though those technically aren’t board games.