In an extremely odd, but not entirely surprising announcement, Variety is reporting that Sony Pictures has bought the film rights to the Hasbro board game Risk. Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir of Hasbro will co-produce the adaptation with Sony Pictures and Will Smith and James Lassiter’s Overbrook Entertainment.

With the recent success of the Hasbro-lined Transformers and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, studios are recognizing and seizing the opportunity for name recognition and branding. Just think of how many more copies of the Risk board game will be sold just on the basis of this news alone.

Last year, Hasbro did sign a six-year deal with Universal to produce at least four movies. The two plan on initiating the collaboration with Battleship on July 1, 2011, directed by Peter Berg (The Kingdom, Hancock). The “board game” genre looks to be gaining steam, as Universal also bought the rights to Candy Land, while Michael Bay wants to produce a Oujia film for Platinum Dunes and Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) is tapped to revisit Clue – which was originally made into a cult classic in 1985.

“The strategic thinking and the tactical gambles that players must take in the game are what make Risk a classic, thoroughly engaging game,” said Columbia prexy Doug Belgrad. “Those elements translated into an action-packed, thrilling story are what will make this a uniquely exciting movie.”

I’m glad Doug is confident, because I can’t picture this thing working at all. I get Peter Berg’s Battleship – which could be made into a naval wartime drama along the lines of U-571 – but I don’t get this. Nevertheless, it should be interesting to say the least what direction Sony goes with this.