Numenera: Strand is a new short film from Valdes/Eriksdotter (Sweden) based on the Ninth World setting of Monte Cook Games’ Numenera RPG.

The Numenera brings promise of power, of knowledge, of true understanding. But what happens when such things come to a man before he’s ready for them?

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Board game nights are set to get the studio big screen treatment in a murder-mystery comedy appropriately titled, Game Night. No release date has been scheduled for the movie from New Line Cinema. However, it’s said to follow a group of couples gathering for a regular game night when something goes horribly wrong. Signed on to star so far are Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman.

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ABC Television and Mattel are partnering on a new competition TV series, The Toy Box, scheduled to premier in the 2016-2017 season. The show will feature toy designers developing their inventions through a series of trials. Judges on the show will be children.

Mattel says it’ll have the winning toy design in stores for the airing of the final episode.

[via Broadway World]

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Privateer Press may have quit producing the Monsterpocalypse Battle Miniatures Game but it appears the game still has fans in Hollywood. Movie rights to the property saw a bidding war by several studios. Warner Bros. came out on top.

Hasbro is working on an integrated universe for its various properties, including G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., ROM, Micronauts, and Action Man. Specifically excluded on the movie side will be Transformers. No mention yet about the various board game titles, Dungeons & Dragons, or Magic: The Gathering, though I suspect it’s safe to assume the two WOTC properties will remain separate. In comic books, IDW will have a five-part crossover series, Revolution, which will include Transformers.

Liev Schreiber has signed on to the My Little Pony movie. Not as one of the ponies, but still, I’m not sure my mind can reconcile Ray Donovan with Friendship is Magic.

Beyond the Gates, a indie horror film premiering at the Los Angeles Film Festival, is centered on a VCR board game that serves as a hellish portal trapping souls.

The Dark Horse is a biopic about Maori Chess champion and youth Chess coach, Genesis Potini. A review in the Boston Globe calls it a “Winning Portrait”, while at the same time finding the two main story lines formulaic: genius is driven to madness and the underprivileged defeat the privileged at their own game.

Current World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen is the subject of the documentary Magnus, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April and will hit home-country screens in Norway this September.

Opening this fall in Japan is Satoshi no Seishun (“Satoshi’s Youth”), a biopic about Satoshi Murayama, a 9-dan Shogi player who died 18 years ago at the young age of 29.

Managing to Win: The Story of Strat-O-Matic Baseball starts shipping today on DVD. Available only direct from the company, the film tells the story of the game’s development by Hal Richman and the early struggles of the company.

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