Director Gore Verbinski is currently in New Mexico filming his big-budget adaptation of The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer.  Depp will play Tonto, the sidekick of the Ranger (Hammer), and the film co-stars Helena Bonham Carter, Ruth Wilson, James Frain, and Tom Wilkinson.  There aren’t any details on the plot, but in October, Depp said they were re-inventing the character of Tonto to be more than a sidekick, and that “Tonto probably believes that The Lone Ranger is his slave, his sidekick.”  Verbinski has now provided some new details on the film along with updates on his other projects including Cary Fukunaga‘s Spaceless, Chris Milk‘s Bitterroot, and the new adaptation of the board game Clue.  Hit the jump for more.

On The Hub’s new five-part, live-action mini-series Clue, actor Zach Mills (Super 8) plays Lucas, aka Professor Plum. A brainiac who is passionate about puzzles, the proud member  of the prestigious yet mysterious Plum Institute is confident in his abilities, but often feels alone in his methods. Like many smart guys his age, Lucas struggles with getting girls to see him as anything other than nice.

During a recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Zach Mills talked about how he’d always played as Professor Plum on family game night, being drawn to his character’s intelligence and how fun it is to play someone so smart, how this version of Clue is a very cool mystery that viewers are going to enjoy trying to figure out with the cast, that he would love to do more episodes and explore more mysterious, and how he’d love to work with his idol, Tom Hanks. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Clue – based on the iconic board game, and featuring its characters, weapons and locations – is a five-part, live-action mini-series event from the new family network The Hub. Premiering on November 14^th and airing daily through November 17^th (and then airing as a back-to-back marathon on November 19^th), the series follows six teenaged sleuths who stumble upon an adventure they never imagined, after witnessing a crime. Along the way, these crime-solvers uncover hidden treasures and decipher cryptic knowledge to reveal a secret society, and the mystery that they unravel could define their own futures.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, executive producer/writer/show runner Raven Metzner talked about developing this younger version of the characters, relating each of these characters to their board game counterparts, the involvement that Hasbro had with their property, finding the right young actors for this cast, and hoping that he’ll get to do another set of episodes. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

On a conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner gave updates on a number of movies. While much of what he said we’ve previously written about, this was the first time anyone had given an update on the status of Transformers 4 and when it might be officially announced.  Here’s the highlights of his conversation:

• Goldner hopes to be able to announce Transformers 4 next quarter as they are talking with Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay and Paramount.
• The Ouija script is “in good shape and is being polished now, meaning that the film could be back with a studio shortly.”  via THR.  We previously posted how Universal dropped the project but maybe with a lower budget the film could move ahead.
• A Micronauts movie script is being written with J.J. Abrams producing and it’s set up at Paramount.  We’ve know this for awhile.
• Goldner doesn’t see Hasbro producing their own films like Marvel.
• Hasbro is still developing movie scripts for Monopoly, Risk, Clue, Stretch Armstrong and Candyland.

With every kid growing up playing Hasbro board games and name recognition being so important in marketing, it’s no surprise the studios are trying to make these projects work.  However, many of these board games seem like long shots to ever hit the screen.  The big info is Transformers 4.  With Bay saying the 3rd Transformers movie would be his last, who will Hasbro get to replace him?  Matt wrote about the six directors who could take over the franchise.  I think a few of them would be great choices.

Universal’s movie deal with Hasbro has been a serious burden for the story.  Whether they make movies based on Hasbro products or not, the studio still has to pay out.  However, that means Universal has to find a way to create stories based on Ouija, Stretch Armstrong, and other board games and toys.  The luke-warm to derisive reaction to the Battleship trailer has to be making the company skittish to say the least.  Deadline reports that Universal now has a few less properties to worry about as they’ve dropped Gore Verbinski’s Clue along with Ridley Scott’s Monopoly and an adaptation of Magic: The Gathering (and I had saved up so much mana!).

However, none of these projects are dead.  Clue is moving forward with Verbinski still planning to direct with Hasbro producing and Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (the Flash Gordon remake) signed on to write the script.  Verbinski’s take reportedly retains the murder-mystery of the game but expands it to a global stage.  Please, please, please let someone say that the movie is Clue meets Risk as if the pieces got mixed up.  Hit the jump for more details on Universal’s other Hasbro properties.

I’m highly skeptical that an Arrested Development movie will ever come to fruition.  But if the series can’t live on in movie theaters, it can have the next best thing: board games.  The fine folks over at Pleated-Jeans have decided to give the Bluths the Clue treatment and done a creative job of applying the world of the show into the classic board game.  Tell me you wouldn’t want to guess that the crime was perpetrated by Tobias Funke (aka Mrs. Peacock) with the Cornballer in the Banana Stand.

Hit the jump to check out Arrested Development going Clue.

What do you get when you cross Transformers, Play-Doh, Mr. Potato Head, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, and the Easy-Bake Oven?  Well, if you’re Hasbro, you get an Avengers-style movie.  Hasbro has found crazy success with Transformers, moderate success with G.I. Joe, and likely will find varying degrees of success with forthcoming films based on Battleship, Micronauts, Risk, Stretch Armstrong, Ouija, Monopoly, Candy Land, and Clue.  (For more on those projects, check out this video interview with Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner)

It turns out the ubiquitous toy company is developing Hasbro Factory, a cinematic grouping all your favorite Hasbro toys.  Details are still scare, and there is no word yet on which specific toys will be called on to make an appearance, but Pajiba reports the project is “out to writers”.  Note that in an interview with Steve, Stretch Armstrong writer Nicholas Stoller claimed that Stretch wouldn’t be part of some expansive Hasbro universe (“It’s going to be totally its own thing”).  Never say never, I suppose.