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01/16/2018: Is "Catan" the next blockbuster?
Jan 16, 2018

01/16/2018: Is "Catan" the next blockbuster?

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Sony Pictures hopes so. The studio is making a bid for the rights to the bestselling board game. We like Catan because it's all about economics, but is there enough there for the kind of mega-franchise Hollywood demands these days? Plus, we're talking markets and the Chinese government's new plan for limiting the population of Shanghai.

Segments From this episode

Clue, Battleship, Ouija and now...Catan? Hollywood tries its luck on board games

Jan 16, 2018
Popular German board game Catan may be headed to the big screen.
Players trade resource cards to build roads, cities and settlements in the German board game Catan.
Andreas Reeg/Marketplace

Why the Dow breaking 26,000 points is making some analysts nervous

Jan 16, 2018
While the markets closed today with a slight loss, they opened at a high point. This morning, the Dow broke 26,000 points for the first time in its 120 year history — and that’s after a year with practically no dips to speak of. But that lack of volatility has some market watchers a little […]

Denver wants to help the middle class move on up

Jan 16, 2018
A new housing subsidy plan in Denver aims to make high end apartments affordable.

GE reckons with a large debt from an old business

Jan 16, 2018
General Electric CEO John Flannery said in an earnings call today that he was “deeply disappointed” in big liabilities found over on the company’s insurance side. GE actually sold off this business – insurance for long-term care – years ago. But turns out it’s still liable for billions of dollars’ worth of policies. Click the […]

Shanghai caps population to combat "big city diseases"

Jan 17, 2018
China's Cabinet has decreed that the city's population should be 25 million — barely more than it is today.
Two out of five residents in Shanghai are migrants, who mainly take up the jobs others don't want. The government is trying to stop migrants from poorer regions from flooding megacities.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace

Sony Pictures hopes so. The studio is making a bid for the rights to the bestselling board game. We like Catan because it’s all about economics, but is there enough there for the kind of mega-franchise Hollywood demands these days? Plus, we’re talking markets and the Chinese government’s new plan for limiting the population of Shanghai.

Music from the episode

Bad Liar Selena Gomez
Big Pimpin' / Papercut JAY Z, Linkin Park
Dear To Me Electric Guest
Yesterday Atmosphere
Young Folks Peter Bjorn and John