CANDY LAND Described as Lord of the Rings in the World of Candy, this sugary adaptation of the kiddie game is now in preproduction at Sony for a 2013 release. This January, the project got a jolt of adrenalin when Adam Sandler and his Happy Madison Productions signed up. A new draft of the script is being written by Robert Smigel, the funny dude who does Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and also wrote Sandler's recent Zohan comedy.

MONOPOLY Who says Ridley Scott is just about goblins, gladiators and galactic giants? Attached since 2008, Scott hired writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, 1408) last September and is rapidly moving past Go after the Prometheus campaign. With hundreds of special editions of the world's best-selling board game out there, from South Park to Sponge Bob, film fans may flock to hang with Uncle Pennybags on the big screen.

CLUE Professor Plum and Colonel Mustard must be smiling after Hasbro flashed the cash for director Gore Verbinski when Universal yanked the plug on the murder mystery project last summer. Now Verbinski's own company, Blind Wink, will fund and develop the movie after his Lone Ranger wraps. Last August the team hired screenwriters Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (Flash Gordon, Dracula:Year Zero) to write the Clue script, expanding the game out of the mansion onto a broader world stage. No release date has been set.

MONSTERPOCALYPSE Not yet abandoned by DreamWorks but barely clinging to life, with Tim Burton signed to produce and direct. This popular role-playing game that starts with a bruising 'bot battle between humans and titanic creatures that attack Earth has faded as a film. Kinda has a familiar feel to del Toro's upcoming Pacific Rim monster mash, now finishing shooting in Toronto. Its similarity may be its death sentence, depending on the kind of coin collected by Guillermo's blockbuster next year. Life support is pinging.

OUIJA Dropped like a bad habit by Universal seven months ago because of its bloated $150 million budget, but brought back to life again in March. How'd they do it? Shave off $140 million clams and repackage it as a low-budget indie flick. Earlier plans for McG to direct have been scrapped, and Paranormal Activity's Jason Blum is now attached to produce with Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes.

RISK Underworld: Awakening's John Hlavin completed the script for the military conquest game of skill and strategy with Sony Pictures and Overbrook's Will Smith and James Lassiter recruited to produce. Smith has his name on 12,000 projects, it seems, these days, and this one has dropped low on his list. The game of world domination doesn't seem like a wild romp of a film, but anything is possible after the peg-less Battleship floods American movie-plexes this weekend.