Call it the Barbie effect: seemingly every product line is now ripe for a high-profile adaptation, no matter how uncinematic it may seem. Monopoly is getting a movie produced by Margot Robbie, Jon M. Chu will follow up Wicked with a Hot Wheels movie, and even M. Night Shyamalan is making a TV show based on the Magic 8 Ball. No, really.
Now, Netflix is trying its hand at the product-to-content pipeline by acquiring the rights to a classic board game. If done right, it could serve as a jumping-off point for all kinds of projects, from a competitive reality series to a hit fantasy epic. If done wrong, we’ll reconvene to talk about what a bizarre idea this was.
According to Variety, Netflix has acquired the rights to Catan, the German board game also known as Settlers of Catan. Catan sees players acquire and trade resources as they build competing island settlements, and while that may not sound like heart-racing action, it can often evolve (or devolve) into serious competition. In the decades since its release, it’s gained a passionate following and a competitive scene.
Netflix is planning to spin this property into all kinds of content, including film, television, and unscripted series. That’s all the information that we have so far, but that’s enough to start speculating. The possibilities for unscripted content are clear: make a Catan tournament series like Squid Game: The Challenge, but with more sheep.
Film and television, on the other hand, are more difficult. Catan isn’t a narrative game, and there are no characters or plot, just tiny wooden roads and settlements. That’s a drawback, but it’s also a blank slate, as Catan could serve as the perfect setting for a vaguely historical drama about rival merchants and warriors.
There’s precedent for this. The scripted History Channel series Vikings found success as a Netflix catalogue title, prompting the streamer to greenlight the sequel series Vikings: Valhalla. A Catan series — or film — could show something similar as rival settlements try to live off the land and make uneasy alliances with each other.
It would be a stretch, but it could work. This adaptation may sound weird, but Barbie sounded weird when it was announced, and it turned into one of the most crowd-pleasing and touching movies of 2023. Viewers might just settle in for the long haul if Netflix plays its resource cards right.
