Monday, June 11, 2012

The battering of "Battleship" at the box office hasn't scared Sony away from Hasbro toys.

The studio is tripling down on its strategy of making movies based on playthings. On Monday, it announced it would make a movie called "Tonka" based on the 65-year-old Tonka truck line of toys.

Sony is also developing movies based on Hasbro Inc. board games "Risk" and "Candy Land."

"Tonka" will be an animated movie co-produced by Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures, Hasbro and Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions.

Universal Pictures' "Battleship," based on the Hasbro hunt-and destroy board game, crashed on its U.S. debut May 18, coming second in a weekend dominated by "The Avengers" in its third weekend of release.

"Battleship" has so far grossed about $295 million worldwide, not enough to cover its costs.