Popular boardgame Settlers of Catan is being adapted for film and television, after producer Gail Katz secured the international rights to the property. Known for Air Force One and The Perfect Storm, Katz explained that the strategy game will be used as a “starting point”, as it doesn’t have an actual story and it just provides the setup of exploring and settling an island.
“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 Gail Katz in a statement, according to Polygon.
“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.”
Guido Teuber, managing director of Catan Inc, said the company is thrilled to be working with Gail Katz on this project and that he knows what the players want from it.
“Catan players are a diverse and dedicated group who are drawn in by the game’s social interaction and strategy. We owe it to the fans all over the world to make sure any Catan content created lives up to what they have come to expect of the Catan brand. We are confident that our partnership with Gail will take us there.”
The boardgame is not the first one to be adapted for film and TV. The comedy Clue was a success, but Battleship and Ouija were failed attempts that have disappointed the fans.
More than 22 million versions of the Settlers of Catan, which has multiple expansions, have been sold worldwide, and downloads have topped 1.6 billion. It passed beyond the college campuses, being popular in Silicon Valley and profiled by Wired and The New Yorker.
Katz’s latest film is a Cold-War era film based on the life of Chess masters Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky called Pawn Sacrifice, staring Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stuhlbarg. It premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival.