Universal has sloughed off its board game adaptation of Monopoly but the project is still alive.  Ridley Scott is still attached to direct and Heat Vision reports that screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs. Larry Flynt) will pen the script. No word if they’ll use the nutty plot that Scott discussed back in November 2009.

Monopoly was part of Universal’s deal with Hasbro but—in a sign that bodes terribly for Battleship—the studio has dropped its adaptation of not only Monopoly, but also Ouija and Gore Verbinski’s Clue.  If Universal thought they had something with Battleship, why would they be ditching their other board game properties left and right?  However, none of these projects are dead since Hasbro is still funding their development.

With Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s Hop opening April 1, I was able to sit down with Christopher Meledandri (CEO of Illumination) earlier today for an extended interview.  As most of you know, Illumination’s first movie, Despicable Me, went on to earn over five hundred and twenty seven million dollars at the worldwide box office.  Not bad for a film that had no build in audience.

Over the past year, Illumination has been developing a number of projects and towards the end of my interview, I asked Meledandri about each of them.  So if you’re curious about the status of Curious George, Tim Burton’s stop-motion animation adaptation of The Addams Family, Ricky Gervais’ Flanimals, The Lorax, and the Despicable Me sequel, hit the jump:

Fox 2000 is at work assembling a sequel to last year’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief which could start shooting as early as next summer.  The studio has signed Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (1408) to adapt the second novel in Rick Riordan’s fantasy series, titled The Sea of Monsters.  Lightning Thief director Chris Columbus is not expected to step behind the camera again, but he will remain on board as producer.  Logan Lerman will return as Percy Jackson, and 24 Frames suggests the other leads will follow suit.  Lerman was supported by Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, and Rosario Dawson in The Lightning Thief.

Hit the jump for a  synopsis for The Sea of Monsters.

Tim Burton’s tendency to work with the same collaborators has long been acknowledged (and viciously lampooned), though this is one relationship that the director hasn’t tapped in a while.  The screenwriting team of Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski penned 1994s Ed Wood, which many (er, this writer) would argue serves as Burton’s directorial peak.  It appears that Burton is keen to get the band back together, for a pair of projects.

The first is a 3D stop-motion adaptation of The Addams Family.  Burton has been attached to direct for months now: Alexander and Karaszewski have now signed on as the primary scribes.  Karaszewski promises, “We’ve come up with an approach that nobody has ever done before… We want the tone to be as darkly funny and subversive as the Addams drawings.”  Hit the jump for details on the second project, Big Eyes, based on the artistic struggles of Margaret Keane.