For whatever reason, Hollywood has been chomping at the bit to transform the extremely popular boardgame Monopoly into a movie; hell, Ridley Scott spent years trying to get a MONOPOLY film off the ground, but it seems that Tim Story and Kevin Hart may have succeeded where he failed.
Deadline reports that Kevin Hart (NIGHT SCHOOL) is set to star in Lionsgate and Hasbro's live-action MONOPOLY film with Tim Story (RIDE ALONG) attached to direct. The project is said to be in the final stages of negotiations at the moment, but not much is known in regards to plot details, who will write it, or when it will start shooting. Deadline says that a previous version of the project "centered on a young man from the game’s modest Baltic Avenue on a quest to make a fortune." Kevin Hart has collaborated with Tim Story many times over the past few years, including on the RIDE ALONG franchise (which reportedly has a third film on the way), THINK LIKE A MAN and THINK LIKE A MAN TOO, as well as several of Hart's stand-up specials. I'd imagine that Hart is eager to move past the recent Oscar controversy and get back to work. The comedian was slated to host the 91st Academy Awards, but when past homophobic jokes and tweets resurfaced, he stepped down just days later. There were rumblings that he could return, but after his appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' talk-show, those seem to be off the table and the Oscar's ceremony will likely be moving forward without a host, although it's possible that The Avengers may step in to save the day.
Kevin Hart can currently be seen in THE UPSIDE alongside Bryan Cranston, but his next outing will find him lending his vocal talents to THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 on June 7, 2019. As for Tim Story, his next project is SHAFT, which finds three generations of the title character (played by Jessie Usher, Samuel L. Jackson, and Richard Roundtree) uniting to solve a crime. SHAFT will hit theaters on June 14, 2019.