Sony & Hasbro strike deal for ‘Clue’ TV & film adaptations

Clue (Source: TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo)

Sony Pictures Television and Sony-owned TriStar Pictures have struck a deal with Hasbro Entertainment for the TV and film rights to the board game Clue (aka Cluedo).

The murder mystery game, which was first launched in 1949, challenges players with working out who is the killer among them, where the crime took place and what weapon was used. Its iconic cast of suspects includes Professor Plum, Miss Scarlett and Colonel Mustard, who typically dispatch their victims with unusual items such as lead piping or a candlestick.

The game was previously adapted as the 1985 feature film Clue, starring Tim Curry, Elieen Brennan and Christopher Lloyd and has been adapted for TV several times, including as the UK game show Cluedo, which ran for four seasons on ITV from 1990 to 1993.

Hasbro appointed former Entertainment One (eOne) execs Zev Foreman and Gabriel Marano to lead its then newly minted entertainment division in August 2023, following the $500m sale of former Hasbro subsidiary eOne to Lionsgate.

The unit unifies Hasbro’s film, television, animation, and digital media expertise under one umbrella to finance, develop and produce content based on its brands.

Clue is just the latest Hasbro property being adapted for the screen, with the divisionactively developing, producing, and financing more than 30 projects, focusing on “priority brands” including Dungeons & Dragons, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Peppa Pig, My Little Pony and Magic: The Gathering.

“Sony is the perfect partner to adapt a property as culturally impactful and mystery-defining as Clue,” said Hasbro film and TV chiefs Zev Foreman and Gabriel Marano. “Nicole Brown, Katherine Pope, and their teams are tremendous creative collaborators and ideal partners to help us figure out after 75 years if it was Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with the candlestick.”