Skip to main content

The Settlers of Catan (Yes, the board game) may become a movie

ready movie based settlers catan
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Just when you thought Hollywood had sworn off movies based on board games, The Settlers of Catan becomes the next project to make the leap from the table to the big screen.

The Perfect Storm and Air Force One producer Gail Katz has acquired the film and television rights to the popular game, according to Deadline, with plans to turn it into a feature film.

“I’ve been wanting to see an adaptation of the game for years ever since my Catan-obsessed college-aged kids introduced me to it,” said Katz in a statement accompanying the announcement. “The island of Catan is a vivid, visual, exciting and timeless world with classic themes and moral challenges that resonate today. There is a tremendous opportunity to take what people love about the game and its mythology as a starting point for the narrative.”

First published in 1995, The Settlers of Catan is a strategy-based game that has players competing to become the dominant community on the fictional island of Catan, where they must make clever use of the resources and outwit neighboring players’ communities in order to survive. The game quickly became a mainstream, global sensation, with over 22 million versions of the game sold worldwide and translated into 30 languages. In 2010, it was declared “the board game of our time” by The Washington Post.

It’s unknown what form the adaptation of the game will take when it’s brought to the screen, or if there’s any timetable associated with development of the film or a potential TV series — so it’s uncertain whether audiences will get something along the lines of Clue or something more akin to (shudder) Battleship.

Editors' Recommendations

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
Like Tetris? Here are 5 underrated movies about video games
Three men crowd around a computer in Bandersnatch.

Video game adaptations are everywhere these days. In the past few years, we've gotten movies or shows featuring Sonic the Hedgehog, the adventuring bros from Uncharted, two more disappointing Resident Evil adaptations, and the animated exploits of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is about to hit theaters, while one of the most acclaimed TV shows of 2023 is HBO's adaptation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us video game.

Movies about video games, however, are still pretty rare and are usually marketed as straightforward genre pictures like a road movie or a zany comedy. That all changes with the Apple TV+ movie Tetris, which fully embraces its video game biopic origins as it chronicles the creation and rise of one of the most popular video games ever. If you enjoyed that movie, you should check out these 5 underrated films about video games.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch | Featurette: Consumer [HD] | Netflix

Read more
Netflix may bring its gaming service to TVs, with iPhones serving as controllers
The Netflix Games section.

Netflix is working on a feature that will bring its games to smart TVs and allow players to use their iPhone as a controller, reports from Bloomberg and MacRumors' Steve Moser said on Wednesday.

The move would take Netflix’s gaming service beyond only smartphones and tablets, giving subscribers more ways to play. And for iPhone owners, it also eliminates the need to buy a dedicated controller, making it more likely that people would give its games a go.

Read more
Where to watch The Hunger Games movies
Two people stand next to each other in The Hunger Games Catching Fire.

Eleven years ago, The Hunger Games made its highly anticipated debut in theaters. The dystopian adventure depicted the titular brutal fight to the death. Representatives, also known as tributes, from each of the 12 Districts compete in this televised competition as a way to keep the peace in the nation of Panem. Katniss Everdeen (Causeway's Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take the place of her sister in District 12. Along with fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark (The Disaster Artist's Josh Hutcherson), Katniss battles to stay alive and, in the process, fights to take down the system that created the games.

Based on the book series by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games spawned three sequels: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. The franchise was successful, both critically and commercially, and eventually grossed a combined $2.97 billion worldwide. A prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is set to come out in late 2023.

Read more