Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is becoming quite the Hollywood power. Sure, the company helped launch a new sci-fi/fantasy franchise last year with Transformers, but that doesn't mean it wants to sit back and relax by the pool just yet. Instead, Hasbro is taking meetings and getting deals done.
General Electric's (NYSE: GE) Universal Pictures has entered into a six-year deal with Hasbro to produce four feature films using some of the toy maker's various intellectual properties. Included in the mix are the major boardgames we all know and love -- Candy Land, Clue, Battleship, and, of course, perhaps most famous of them all, Monopoly. The first project should be out around 2010.
I'm not sure about Candy Land, but a movie based on Monopoly would be pretty cool. I have no idea what Universal Pictures has in mind for these properties -- I mean, will the boardgames come to life and intrude upon the real world, or will the stories be set literally inside the boardgames themselves? -- but I think this deal has real potential. A few more big hits like Transformers will do wonders for Hasbro and its brand equity. And I do believe these movies could be big hits, especially if the right stars are attached (imagine Jim Carrey and Donald Trump in a Monopoly movie, for example).
But, I have to tell you, the most exciting celluloid possibility lies with the Ouija board. Yes, the Ouija board was mentioned as putative source material. That creepy paranormal thing has spooked millions, and it was used to great effect in The Exorcist. Imagine a summer thriller for families based on the brand -- it would juice the sales of the evil spirit-communication devices the following Halloween, I can guarantee you that! This should be the first feature out of the gate.
So, look out Mattel (NYSE: MAT) -- Hasbro is taking Tinsel Town by storm. And memo to Hasbro and Universal: contact me if you'd like me to write the script for a Ouija film! I'm ready and waiting.
Disclosure: Steven Mallas owns shares in General Electric.










