Universal Drops ‘Clue,’ But It Still Lives On Thanks To Gore Verbinski
Universal, in the conference room, with the telephone. That’s most likely how the movie studio officially droppedtheir interest in a remake/adaptationof the Hasbro board gameClue. However, Hasbro is currently so flush from films like Transformers: Dark of the Moon, they aren’t worried. They’ve gotBattleship, Stretch Armstrong, OuijaandCandylandall still in various stages of production/development and they’re lettingCluego out on its own withGore Verbinski’s production company Blink Wink. In fact, screenwritersBurk SharplessandMatt Sazamahave just been hired to take the murder mystery structure and adapt it on a global scale. Read more after the jump.
Deadline brokethe news ofClue’s journey away from Universal and state that, despite the company not being interested in the game anymore, their relationship with Hasbro remains strong. The two companies signed a six-year deal in 2008 to develop properties based on their games andClueis just the latest one they’ve axed.MonopolyandMagic, The Gatheringhave also been dropped by Universal but each remain alive in their own right.
According to Deadline’s piece, Hasbro is more than content developing some of these projects on their own and then going out to studios with scripts and talent attached as opposed to just letting Universal do all the legwork themselves. They realize Universal can’t solely focus on Hasbro movies all the time.
Back toClueitself, Verbinski is still interested in directing (and has been for several years) and helped come up with the latest idea to expand the murder mystery globally. The way I see it, Verbinski’s sensibility certainly demands a large canvas, but the charm inClueitself – as is evident from the 1985 Jonathan Lynn film – is containing it in one place.
Do you thinkCluecan work on a global scale? Does Universal dropping it bode poorly for the property?
