All those people who accused Greta Gerwig of selling out when she announced her Narnia films likely didn’t know that there was an even bigger Rich Uncle Pennybags lurking in the shadows of Barbie Land. Even though her character left the world of toys to become a real girl at the end of Barbie, Margot Robbie is hopping right back in with a live-action film based on Hasbro’s Monopoly—the completely fictional board game where you can land in jail for tax evasion—produced by her company, LuckyChap, in collaboration with Lionsgate.
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The news was announced by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson at Las Vegas’ CinemaCon today, during which he said that Robbie and her team “join Monopoly with a clear point of view” (via Variety). It’s not yet clear what that point of view actually is (hopefully, something other than selling Monopoly boards themed as every other dark and artsy toy movie coming out in the next few years), or whether Robbie will personally be in the film or not.
To that point, here’s a little advice from this writer: the “capitalism is awesome” movie was old and tired the minute it was invented. What the people really want is to know how a thimble came to be the size of a battleship. Or how a Scottish Terrier figured out how to pay a mortgage and build multiple hotels in Atlantic City. Also, if the movie doesn’t include at least one infuriated board flip or under-the-table “I’ll do your laundry for a month if you give me Boardwalk” deal, then it’s not a real Monopoly movie and Robbie hasn’t done her job.
But Robbie probably already knows this, because producing toy and other IP films is genuinely becoming a huge part of her career. After the runaway success of Barbie, the actor announced late last month that she was also working on a Sims movie, in addition to a film based on Disney World’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad rollercoaster that was announced back in 2022. At least she’ll definitely collect her 200 (million?) dollars from one of these projects.