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Hasbro, Lions Gate to roll dice with Monopoly movie

(Reuters) - Toy maker Hasbro Inc is bringing the Monopoly board game to the silver screen, in a movie about a boy's quest to make his fortune and avoid jail time.

Andrew Niccol, who was nominated for an Academy Award for writing Jim Carrey's "The Truman Show", will write the screenplay for the movie, to be co-produced by Hasbro and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

Invented more than a century ago, 275 million copies of the Monopoly board game have been sold in 47 languages.

The game where players buy, rent and sell properties to get rich and bankrupt their rivals is the most played board game ever, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

The story for the movie centers on a boy from Baltic Avenue, one of the cheapest properties on the board, who uses both Chance and Community cards to make his fortune.

Hasbro has turned its toys and games such as "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers" into highly successful movie franchises.

No release date was given.

(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Rodney Joyce)