A Magic 8-Ball Movie? Signs Point to WTF

To paraphrase the late, great Waylon Jennings, don't you think this board game bit done got out of hand? With Battleship, Monopoly, Oujia, Clue, Risk, and others on the way, and with studios grabbing on to toys like Hot Wheels, Max Steel, He-Man, and Stretch Armstrong, it's one more reason to hate Michael Bay. If not for Transformers, I doubt we'd be here. And "here" is that place where we ask how in the world they're going to make a Magic 8-Ball movie. Paramount and Mattel have shaken hands on a "live-action adventure film," according to Deadline Hollywood, which Jon Gunn and John Mann will write. No offense to those dudes, but they don't have to work too hard to come up with porn star names. It's one thing for games with fairly direct narratives to get this sort of treatment; the war games seem easy to contemplate, Monopoly less so. But what's a Magic 8-Ball movie going to be like? People shaking it to solve their problems and then...magic stuff happens? It's the latest in this cart-before-the-horse movie category where the studios are anticipating your interest out of thin air. And Paramount should know, because G.I. Joe might have merchandised really well, but it didn't sell as many tickets or DVDs as it would need to be purely successful on those terms alone. Paramount and Mattel are already working on Max Steel, though, so this is just an extention of that same kind of thinking. The difference is...at least Max Steel is a character. And here's another thing to consider: Do you know anybody who played with a Magic 8-Ball for more than, like, a week? It's a paper weight, not a movie property.

Comments

[nicksoapdish]

This is one that actually makes a little more sense. Wasn't there a movie recently about a box that let people make a wish, but something bad happened. I can see them doing something similar with the magic 8 ball. it sounds dumb, but it makes more sense than battle ship.

[El Doucheo Bago]

Ha, I said this a while ago. I am sure Connect Four and Simon the movie will be next.