A Movie Based on the Dramatic True Story of the Game Monopoly in the Works

Despite your foggy memories involving the Great Depression, the origins of the board game Monopoly go further back, to a largely forgotten activist named Lizzie Magie. And now that story—involving anti-monopolists, Atlantic City Quakers, and toymakers—might be made into a movie.

Deadline reports that the idea is to adapt Mary Pilon’s The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind America’s Favorite Board Game. The script, which’ll be written by Howard A. Rodman, will also incorporate The Billion Dollar Monopoly (R) Swindle by Ralph Anspach, who uncovered much of Magie’s story while tangling legally with Parker Brothers over his 1970s riff Anti-Monopoly. Would-be producers called it “a rich tale full of fascinating characters and an unexpected origin story behind the beloved game,” and “No one will ever look at the Monopoly board in the same way again.”

As Deadline points out, this might be the way Hollywood finally manages to make a Monopoly movie—and perhaps even an interesting one, at that. For more on the story, check out our interview with Pilon.