Variety is reporting that Universal is planning to take the silver screen to new heights of saccharinity with an adaptation of Hasbro’s tyke-skewing board game Candy Land. Although there is little in the way of a track record for this sort of “marzipan movie,” Universal is hoping that the results will be better than the movie version of Clue, which earned a mere $14.6 million back in 1985. Candy Land is just the latest, sweetest cinematic fruit of an agreement between Universal and Hasbro from early last year (see “Monopoly, Magic Movies on Tap”). Bladerunner helmer Ridley Scott, no doubt chastened by his experience with Kingdom of Heaven, has already signed on for a film based Monopoly (see “Ridley Scott to Direct Monopoly”).
For its Candy Land adaptation Universal has already secured talent with a proven track record in delivering hit films targeting a family audience. According to Variety, Universal has tapped Kevin Lima, who helmed the highly successful Enchanted for Disney, to handle the directing chores, while Etan Cohen (
