Fans of board game movies and Kevin Hart can breathe easy now that Monopoly — a cinematic adaptation of the iconic classic board game that Deadline reported was in the works in 2019 — will finally see the light of day.
According to Deadline, Hart’s HartBeat Productions will reportedly have Hart, John Cheng, and Carli Haney as producers. Story and Prince of Peoria executive producer Sharla Sumpter Bridgett will produce for The Story Company. Hasbro’s Allspark Pictures collaborates on the project with producers Brian Goldner, Stephen Davis, and Greg Mooradian.
The long-in-the-works project that first had Ridley Scott attached as director back in 2008 will see Hart reteaming with director Tim Story – who previously worked with him on the Ride Along franchise and also directed Barbershop (2002) and Fantastic Four (2005).
In an interview, Tim Story revealed to Slash Film that finding the perfect cinematic hook for his adaptation of Monopoly was particularly difficult. The filmmaker verified that the project is still in the works, saying:
“It’s a difficult one to find the right thing with. So we have been talking to writers, it is still being developed, and hopefully, we’ll get to a blueprint that we can kind of get something made.”
Meanwhile, on June 16, 2023, theaters will debut Story’s newest feature, The Blackening, a comedy horror scripted by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins and based on the 2018 short film of the same name by the comedy ensemble 3Peat. The plot centers on a group of African-American friends who go on a cabin trip and encounter a serial murderer.
While Monopoly is in development, Kevin Hart maintains his run of nonstop projects with his upcoming Netflix comedy heist picture Lift — directed by F. Gary Gray — set to air in January 2024.