In the wake of the massive success of the first Transformers movie, there was a boom to acquire a bunch of Hasbro toy properties and turn them into films. Everything from Stretch Armstrong to Candy Land was on the table, but studios subsequently got cold feet and the only two that made it to the screen were the underrated Battleship (yes, I said underrated) and a low-budget horror iteration of Quija that came and went last year with barely a whimper. There’s one property that seemed stronger than the others, though, and that’s the Monopoly movie. After a fairly long development period that saw Ridley Scott flirt with the prospect of directing, the film is finally poised to start production this summer as a family adventure film.

Steve recently spoke with producer Randall Emmett, whose independent production company Emmett/Furla Films acquired the rights to Monopoly from Hasbro, and during the course of their conversation he provided a status update on the film. He revealed that shooting begins this summer, a big cast and director announcement is coming soon, and the Goonies-esque story involves a treasure map and revolves around a bunch of kids being chased by an adult. Much more after the jump.

Emmett told Steve that after working on the script for a time (he declined to reveal the writers just yet), filming on the Monopoly movie begins this summer:

“We’ve worked on the script for about nine months, we now have a script that we’re going to go make this summer.”

The producer added that they’ll probably be shooting in Georgia or Louisiana, with essential exterior work poised to be done in Atlantic City at the boardwalk. He also said to expect a big announcement revealing the cast, director, and logline at the beginning of February, offering a tease of the story:

“[For] the director, we’re on a shortlist of a few names, and we’re beyond excited about whichever of these directors ends up coming together. The cast is young kids but there is one lead, older—a guy chasing kids, lets say.”

Steve subsequently remarked that the one-liner reminded him of Goonies, and Emmett said that’s the film they hope to emulate:

“That’s a perfect analogy to what Monopoly will hopefully be. There is a treasure map… It’s a family adventure film.”

While this is Emmett/Furla’s first foray into the world of family films, Emmett said they want to ensure that the movie is enjoyable for everyone and not just younger audiences:

“We really spent a lot of time on the script really trying to create family fun for everybody.”

While I think many are dubious that a Monopoly movie can work, iffy concepts have been known to surprise us before (see: Pirates of the Caribbean, The LEGO Movie). We’ll know much more about what to expect from Monopoly very soon.