With this summer’s failure of Battleship, Universal had a deal with Hasbro to turn toys into movies, and it obviously didn’t work out all that well.
In fact, the deal with Hasbro was cancelled before Battleship came out, which also axed a number of potential game / movie franchises like Stretch Armstrong, Clue, and Monopoly. But apparently this isn’t going to stop toys being turned into movies.
As Deadline recently reported, Sony clinched a lucrative deal with Hasbro to turn Tonka toys into a film – apparently with the help of none other than Adam Sandler. Yes, Sony signed the deal with Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions, and the Tonka film is going to be animated.
Even though the Cars films aren’t considered Pixar’s best, kids love to play with toy cars, and a Tonka truck movie could absolutely be a huge merchandising bonanza for Sony and Hasbro.
As we’ve reported here before on TG, Sandler also has a project based on the Hasbro game Candy Land at Sony, while Sony has a game based on the game Risk in development as well. Yet as the press release for Tonka was going out, Deadline couldn’t help but point out that Hasbro made no mention of Battleship, an obvious elephant in the room everyone’s choosing to ignore.
Whether a Tonka movie’s will get made down the road or not, in a statement from Sony, the studio said, “Tonka, the Hasbro brand that for 65 years has stood for its line of toy trucks for children, will bring its Tonka toughness to thebig screen in a fully animated motion picture…One of the most recognized brands in Hasbro’s portfolio, Tonka has been the bestselling toy truck globally since 1947. Giving children real-life, relatable experiences, Tonka trucks help kids learn the confidence to get the job done.”
