It seems people feel like this idea should go straight to jail.
Margot Robbie is not toying around when it comes to collecting game IPs like they’re freaking Pokemon cards. Lionsgate announced at CinemaCon on Wednesday that it’ll be teaming up with Robbie’s LuckyChap production company to create a Monopoly movie, according to Variety.
The announcement comes just weeks after it was announced that the “Barbie” star and producer will be making a movie based on the popular life simulation video game franchise, “The Sims.”
Although “The Sims” movie could have endless plot opportunities, including having an omniscient figure guide a Sims character through the joys of starting a family or dealing with bike-riding werewolves, a Monopoly-based movie would likely just be a rehashing of the point of the game.
However, it would be nice to see the film touch on the board game’s rather knotty origin.
In 1904, a woman named Lizzie Magie received a patent for a little invention she called the Landlord’s Game, according to Smithsonian magazine. Magie’s stated goal of the game “was to demonstrate the evils of accruing vast sums of wealth at the expense of others.”
The Landlord’s Game was sold for a while by a New York-based publisher, but people began making homemade versions of the game, including a man named Charles Darrow, who eventually sold a counterfeit version of the game to Parker Brothers in 1935. Darrow called his version Monopoly.
According to The Washington Post, Darrow ended up making a fortune off the board game, while Magie was only given $500 from Parker Brothers for her patent so the toy and game manufacturer could have full control over Monopoly and games similar to it.
With that knowledge in mind, the Monopoly movie could be an interesting commentary on the dangers of capitalism as well as copyright infringement (you know, a man taking credit for a woman’s idea). Or it could be a 90-minute advertisement for an already successful product.
Any way you roll the dice, people on X, formerly Twitter, are making a community chest worth of jokes about the movie.