Hasbro’s Ouija Finally Pointing to Horror Film
Steve Barton
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The Hollywood Reporter
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/hasbros-ouija-movie-returns-universal-296839
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We’ve been talking about what a missed opportunity it would be to turn a movie called Ouija, based on a board that lets you talk to the dead, into a big budget family extravaganza since the idea was first presented. Finally Hollywood has come to its senses!
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal and Hasbro are back in business on Ouija. The studio let go its adaptation of the board game in August due to budgetary concerns, but the project has been reconfigured and re-set up at Universal, which has slated it for release in 2013.
Original producers Michael Bay and Brad Fuller and Andrew Form of Platinum Dunes are still on board, but the project now has Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions as a producer as well.
Blum is the microbudget horror maven behind the Paranormal Activity franchise and Insidious, movies that scared audiences and generated huge box office returns. The films are hugely profitable because of their low overhead, suggesting Ouija has been re-conjured at a significantly lower price.
The project ran into trouble at Universal over its sizable budget, said to be just shy of $100 million, which insiders pegged to the big scope of a special-effects-laden family adventure and the cost of having McG (Charlie’s Angels, This Means War) on board as a director.
Universal has not named a writer or director and is not revealing a revised logline, but sources say Ouija will follow Blum’s high concept, lower budget model. The movies Blumhouse has been making for Universal have been under $5 million, and Ouija is expected to follow suit. It is unlikely to be a found footage movie, something that has been a popular trope of late for low-budget horror flicks.
Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes first partnered on Vigilandia, which is currently in production. After that good working partnership, Universal and Platinum Dunes approached Blumhouse about taking Ouija in a new direction.
Ouija joins two other similarly themed projects that have been gathering a lot of steam – I Am ZoZo and a UK film also known as Ouija. Signs point to an upcoming battle of the boards.
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