Hasbro Board Games Go to the Movies

Many of today’s kids would rather slice and dice flying fruit on an iPhone than sit around a game board racing each other to buy Park Place. Brian Goldner, chief executive officer of Hasbro is betting he can revive old-fashioned games by hooking up with Hollywood. Battleship, a Universal Pictures film loosely based on the 69-year-old game of naval strategy, will dock at U.S. theaters on May 18. The movie, starring Liam Neeson and pop singer Rihanna, is a love story (not between the two of them) set against the backdrop of a seaborne alien invasion. While the screenplay may not win many accolades, Battleship has sold more than $200 million worth of tickets in Europe and Asia, where it premiered last month. Under its deal with Universal, the world’s No. 2 toymaker will get about 5 percent of Battleship ticket sales once the studio has recouped production costs.

Yet the real question for Hasbro, according to UBS analyst Rob Carroll, is whether success at the box office will transform Battleship into a franchise, with a range of products that includes video games, apparel, and action figures. Goldner is counting on it, and is working to bring other games to the big screen, including Candy Land, starring Adam Sandler, and Monopoly, directed by Ridley Scott.