BEN AFFLECK and Matt Damon are partnering for a movie about how a former cop rigged the McDonald’s Monopoly game to steal millions.

Based on a recently published Daily Beast report by Jeff Maysh, the movie will follow the FBI operation to uncover the underground criminal ring, run by someone named “Uncle Jerry,” an ex-cop who used his job as a security officer at the firm that printed the game pieces to defraud the fast food’s annual promotion of US$24 million in prize money over several years.

Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, the writers behind Fox’s “Deadpool” series, will adapt the story for the screen.

Damon will star in the central role of antihero Jerome Jacobson, with Affleck attached to direct, while both will produce via their Pearl Street banner. Jeff Maysh and David Klawans will exec produce.

Affleck was last in the director’s chair for the 2016 crime drama “Live by Night” for Warner Bros. Since exiting the Batman stand-alone project as a director, Affleck has been in talks to direct a number of projects, including Sony’s Afghanistan War movie “Red Platoon.”

Damon is attached to star in Fox’s “Ford v. Ferrari” movie from James Mangold.

Fox outbid several other studios, including Universal, Warner Bros. and Netflix, to land the rights to the story.

Twentieth Century Fox and Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Pearl Street Films paid US$1 million for the Daily Beast story published July 28 — a huge sum for an 8,700-word web feature.

(SD-Agencies)