Just when you thought you had escaped the prospect of a Ouija movie-- or any board game movie, thanks to the dissolution of Universal's deal with Hasbro-- the pseudo-supernatural game preferred by slumber parties has returned with a vengeance. The weirdest part? It's back at Universal, where it all started. THR reports that the studio and Hasbro have teamed up again to revive their plans for a Ouija movie, with Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes also still on board, with the addition of Jason Blum as a producer as well.
There's no mention in the writeup of McG, who was on board to direct it this time last year, nor of Marti Noxon, who was hired to tweak the script just last November, back when Hasbro and Platinum Dunes were still plugging away to make the movie happen. Noxon, a veteran of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more recently Fright Night, was the first sign that the film might go somewhere good-- but with no mention of her on this new announcement, I worry she might have fallen off the project as well.
If they're planning to tweak the script again, they're going to have to move fast-- Universal has announced a 2013 release for the film, which means production should be starting pretty much immediately. Clearly both Universal and Platinum Dunes still see some money in the idea, but I'm a little baffled by this being the one Hasbro project that Universal picks up, after bailing on nearly all of the other ones save Battleship, which comes out in May. Do you guys have any idea why they want to make a Ouija movie-- and if so, what it's even going to be about?
