





The writers of Toy Story are reportedly in talks to pen a movie based on FarmVille, the popular Facebook game.

Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen said in an interview with IGN that they're working with Zynga on a movie based on one of the company's most popular games, adding "Can't really say too much on that front yet, but 'Old MacDonald' didn't have a factory, if you get our drift."

We get it: Making a movie is super risky. Unlike launching new apps and websites, movies are a huge upfront investment in the vague hope of a hit. Hence the tendency to just remake something that's already popular. Or the flurry of movies based on popular websites, apps and tech personalties. The Facebook movie. The Steve Jobs movie (possibly). The Angry Birds movie. Why take a chance on something new when you can buy the rights to something with tens of millions of fans already?

What does a FarmVille movie look like anyway? No doubt it'll be a computer-animated feature (in 3D, of course!) incorporating the graphics and themes of the Facebook game. But FarmVille is a game in which you tend crops. Is that going to be a bit ... boring? And while to tens of millions of people, FarmVille is an addictive pastime, for the friends of those people (ie. us!) it's actually kind of a nuisance.

Would a FarmVille movie be met with glowing reviews or - more likely - an audible sigh from those of us who grudgingly tolerate the addiction of our FarmVille-playing friends and relatives? And could the critics be anything but, well, critical of this cynical attempt at turning a successful gaming franchise into an equally popular film?

Ah, but plenty can happen at these early stages — one of a hundred issues may prevent the movie from entering production. Not to mention that FarmVille is no longer the most popular Facebook game, reducing the potential audience for the movie. Or perhaps I'll be proven sorely wrong. After all, a certain movie based on the Facebook story took home 3 Oscars this year.

PS. For those movie studios thinking of following suit, Zynga was kind enough to list its top-performing games - plus some intriguing stats - in its IPO filing earlier this year: