‘Ouija’ latest film based on game

Hollywood has a fascination with turning classic board games into movies.

There was “Clue” and “Battleship,” and now “Ouija” is about to hit theaters today. Filmmakers are working to get “Monopoly,” “Candy Land” and “Risk” off the toy store shelves and into cinemas.

The big studios hope to cash in at the box office as these familiar titles resonate with grown-ups and teenagers alike who played the games as children. And, for toy makers like Hasbro Inc., it could help boost sales of games that have been around for decades.

“What they’re hoping is that if they can figure out a way to turn these games, which are essentially interactive, into narratives and possibly luck into a franchise,” film historian Wheeler Winston Dixon said. “Even if they only hit one, it still works for them.”

The problem: Audiences have yet to buy in.

Movies based on board games have not done much business at cinemas, in contrast with the hits Hasbro has generated with some of its toys and action figures. “Transformers” movies have grossed about $3.75 billion in ticket sales worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, and “G.I. Joe” has also become a film franchise. This year, rival Lego broke into Hollywood with Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow’s “The Lego Movie.” Barbie and Hot Wheels maker Mattel Inc. is also busy making TV shows and movies based on its toys.

But board games have proved to be tricky. Of the multiple games Hasbro has primed for development in the last few years, just one has been released - the 2012 dud “Battleship.” Much earlier, the campy 1985 version of “Clue” bombed at the multiplex.

Now Hasbro hopes that its Ouija board will divine a better fortune.

The box-office prospects for “Ouija” have Hasbro Studios President Stephen Davis in high spirits .

The PG-13-rated “Ouija,” produced by Blumhouse Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures, is poised to gross $20 million or more at box office through the weekend, according to people who have seen pre-release audience surveys - a strong result considering it only cost $5 million to make.

One problem with making movies out of games is the difficulty of translating the thin source material for the big screen, when filmmakers have just a title, basic premise and plastic game pieces to start with. The plot of “Ouija” seems predictable. After a friend is brutally killed in an accident, a group of teenage friends awaken the powers of an ancient spirit board by attempting to contact their friend.

But Davis said inspiration from a game shouldn’t be a handicap.

“With any re-imagination of a brand, you may have core characters, you may have a lore and canon like with Transformers, but you also want to create a more expansive world because it’s about creating something new, something fresh,” Davis said.