While another film iteration with Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) is still trying to get off the ground, Hasbro’s iconic board game Clue is getting another go on the small screen as Fox has begun development on a series adaptation of the mystery property.
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“‘Colonel Mustard…In the Conservatory…With the lead pipe,'” Michael Thorn, President of Entertainment of FOX Entertainment, said in a statement. “By just hearing these colorful phrases alone, you immediately know what they mean — leaving no mystery as to why Clue is one of the most beloved board games-turned-IP of all time. We couldn’t be more excited to develop it as an animated series along with eOne and Bento Box.”
Click here to purchase the 1985 film adaptation of the game and the game itself!
Encapsulating the thrilling and suspenseful dynamics that have made Clue a global sensation for more than seven decades, the project will be co-produced by FOX Entertainment, eOne and Bento Box Entertainment, which also will serve as the animation studio.
“We’re thrilled to team up once again with our great partners at FOX and Bento Box on this exciting new series,” Pancho Mansfield, eOne’s President of Global Scripted Programming, said in a statement. “Clue is an iconic whodunit property that exudes mystery and intrigue, and has fans all over the world. We can’t wait to share our reimagined animated version with audiences.”
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Clue, originally called Murder!, was launched in 1949 and invented by Englishman Anthony E. Pratt, who created the game during WWII to pass the time during lengthy air raid drills and is conceptualized on the murder of Mr. Boddy, the host of the game’s “dinner party,” during which players must untangle various clues to determine who among the party’s six guests – Professor Plum, Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlett, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green and Dr. Orchid – committed the crime.
The iconic board game was first adapted for the screen in 1985 with the Tim Curry-starring cult classic film and was followed by a 2011 miniseries adaptation from The Hub. A remake of the film has been in the works for over a decade, first set at Universal Pictures before moving to Hasbro internally then to 20th Century Fox, where after a few years of development landed Reynolds as a star and Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick writing and later Jason Bateman (Ozark) entering talks to co-star and direct. While Bateman would step down from directing (and possibly acting) duties on the remake, the renamed 20th Century Studios would press on and entered talks with James Bobin (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) last February to direct.
