August 17, 2010 12:30 pm

Film based on the game ‘Battleship’ will have a budget of over $200 million

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That’s right, another film based on one of your childhood toys is coming to the big screen. Battleship is shaping up to be a sci-fi thriller about an alien invasion at sea and will star Alexander Skarsgard, Taylor Kitsch, Tom Arnold and Rihanna. I assume there will also be a lot of expensive boats.

As Universal’s “Battleship” steams toward a start date this month, the pricey adaptation of the Hasbro board game is entering deep, treacherous waters. With a budget of $200 million or more and no major movie stars on board, the project is raising eyebrows among industry insiders who question whether this expensive gamble will pay off.

I stood quietly and watched Transformers and GI Joe get the green light from film studios and not quite live up to the lofty expectations I had for them. I worked in the industry, I knew that in the end the movies didn’t matter as much as the money they’d collect off merchandising and so I watched Michael Bay napalm my childhood into oblivion without blinking an eye. I can’t say I was surprised the script was as terrible as it was, but I ended up being impressed by the special effects and told myself that it was what it was: a $200 million dollar movie with talking robots and $100 million worth of explosions. Oh yeah, and Megan Fox.

megan fox1 Film based on the game Battleship will have a budget of over $200 million

But I’ve got to say that a movie based off of a game that nobody seemed to like and everyone seemed to cheat at is not a sound business investment. Other than Rihanna, is there anyone in the cast I listed that you’d pay to see? Do you even know who those guys are? Do you really want to spend two hours of your life watching Pearl Harbor on steroids? Independence Day with boats? Look, I’m all for adapting my 80s toys and cartoons into films, but I thought I’d see the Monopoly movie before I saw Battleship made into a feature film.

By far the most significant entry from the relatively new regime of Fogelson and co-chairman Donna Langley, “Battleship” is based on the Hasbro game about naval strategy that’s been around since World War I. Berg has come up with a modern twist: making “Battleship” a movie about an alien invasion at sea. But the grief and financial woe brought about over the years by oceanic epics — think “Waterworld” — is a part of Hollywood history.

When you start comparing upcoming films to Waterworld, you know your ship is taking on too much water. And I know Peter Berg does good work when it comes to directing (he was the Great White Hype after all), but with no name stars, a singer that has never really acted before and a budget over $200 million…

B-5 — You sunk my studio. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200 million.

The $200 million gamble on ‘Battleship’ film [THR]