Candy Land movie lands at Sony with Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler is ready to visit Candy Land for Sony.
The actor is in final talks with Sony and Hasbro to star in and have his Happy Madison Productions produce a movie based on the board game.
The project had been set up at Universal, with Kevin Lima attached to direct and Kung Fu Panda writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger to write the script.
Lima remains on the movie, but Sandler and Robert Smigel are in talks to write it.
Universal has been ditching its Hasbro movies lately.
On Monday, Relativity Media said it, rather than Universal, would be making Stretch Armstrong. And in 2011, Universal paid Hasbro $5 million to get out of its agreement to make Ouija. In 2010, the studio scrapped plans for a screen remake of the popular board game Clue.
Universal's Battleship, starring Liam Neeson and Taylor Kitsch, is scheduled to be released on May 18.
In a statement, Columbia Pictures President Doug Belgrad called Candy Land more than just a game -- it is a brand that children, parents and grandparents know and love. He said that it offers a larger than life part for Sandler.
Candy Land, created in 1949, is a game for young children. In it, players make their way through the Peppermint Forest, the Gum Drop Mountains and the Lollypop Woods. As they do, they encounter Princess Frostine, Lord Licorice, Mr. Mint and King Candy.
Hasbro's president and CEO, Brian Goldner, is producing, along with the company's senior VP and managing director of motion pictures, Bennett Schneir, and Happy Madison Productions.
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