EXCLUSIVE: Netflix’s Monopoly bake-off has been completed and Studio Lambert has emerged victorious.
The company behind Peacock hit The Traitors landed the right to produce a reality competition game show based on the iconic board game alongside Hasbro Entertainment.
Studio Lambert is continuing its hot streak in the States; in September, the company won its second consecutive Emmy for Traitors, which is aired its Season 4 finale on the NBCU streamer yesterday and it is preparing a civilian version of the celebrity-led reality competition for NBC, which is due out later this year.
The company also recently scored a reality version of Fallout at Amazon, similar to its work on Squid Game: The Challenge, which was picked up for a third season by Netflix, and it is hoping to sell The Golden Elevators into the U.S.
The All3Media-backed business has done a lot of business with the streamer over the years including with shows such as The Circle, Dance 100 and Surviving Paradise.
It beat out Endemol Shine North America and Wheelhouse after the bake-off was whittled down to a final three.
The bake-off was the talk of the unscripted town last summer with around 50 companies understood to have submitted creative ideas for the adaptation with around 30 pre-approved by the streamer.
Deadline hears that Netflix was pleased with the level of originality that it received across the process.
Netflix struck a deal for the rights to Monopoly from Hasbro Entertainment last year.
At the time, Netflix’s VP, unscripted series Jeff Gaspin told Deadline that the success of Monopoly Go!, the mobile board game from Scopely that came out in 2023, inspired him to buy the project.
“There’s a gameplay in Monopoly Go! that I think really will resonate with gameplay in an unscripted series,” he said.
The idea for the bake-off was not only to get the right creative for Monopoly, but to also open doors for companies that have either not worked with Netflix before or haven’t made such a big show for the streamer.
Deadline understands that this has, in fact, been the case, and the bake-off has led to other development projects.
“Even if they don’t get picked on this project, we might see something in their pitch that we really like, so we’ll keep them in mind the next time something comes along. I think it’s healthy for the community to give a lot of people an opportunity,” Gaspin added.
