Candy Land to become a movie

Forget Marvel—Hasbro is where it’s at. The toy company already flipped its Transformers brand into one of the most valuable current movie franchises, and we now have movie versions of G.I. Joe, Ouija and Monopoly on the way. Not to be outdone, Universal pulled together a deal with the company, and the first fruit will be a movie based on the frothy board game Candy Land.

Yes, Candy Land. There’s no word yet on the plot (as if that matters), but Universal has already hired on-the-rise filmmakers Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder) and Kevin Lima (Enchanted) to write and direct, respectively. Other filmed versions of Hasbro-controlled toys and games include Dungeons & Dragons and the mercifully dormant Pokémon craze.

The announcement underscores how stratospheric Hollywood’s obsession with brand names has become, with the belief that a built-in marketing hook is the obvious superior of originality. Given the returns for Transformers, it’s hard to argue with them.

Related links:
Ctrl-V: Trailer Stash: Transformers 2, Star Trek, Land of the Lost, Year One, more
News: Michael Bay preps Ouija movie
News: Universal wins rights to adapt film from unreleased video game

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.