Earlier this month Universal Studios announced that it had won the film adaptation rights to the 1979 classic arcade game, Asteroids.<\/p>\n
Easily one of the most instantly recognizable video games ever made, Atari’s 2D vector graphic driven asteroid blaster had teenagers the world over floating about in space blasting asteroids for hours on end. To this day Asteroids is Atari’s biggest selling game of all time.<\/p>\n
Many would argue that the premise of a nondescript spaceship floating about in deep space shooting asteroids at random for no other reason than to acquire points is not the most promising source material for a Hollywood blockbuster. However, Universal Studios along with three other unnamed studios went head to head in a bidding war to secure the rights.<\/p>\n
The game unashamedly had no storyline or characters, as was the standard at the time. This means that Universal has had to develop its own plot. One has to wonder exactly how much the film will draw from the original game, seeing as it will possess an original storyline and characters. “It’s funny because people say there’s nothing in the game, but that’s not entirely right,” said di Bonaventura, going on to elaborate “I was attracted to Asteroids, plain and simple, because I think what it tells you is that there’s going to be this big thing in space.”<\/p>\n Somebody should have told the G.I Joe producer that you don’t have to purchase the rights to a film adaptation of a classic arcade game in order to make a move that is simply going to be “this big thing in space.”<\/p>\n The plot details that di Bonaventura discussed don’t exactly establish any link to the source material either.<\/p>\n “It’s two lead characters – two brothers – who have to go through a seminal experience to figure out their relationship, against this huge backdrop.”<\/p>\n Di Bonaventura did point out that there would however be a direct link to the original game’s point-and-shoot gameplay mechanic. “Well you’d betterhave some guys in spaceships blowing stuff up, or else you haven’t honoured the fun of Asteroids.”<\/p>\n
The film’s producer Lornezo di Bonaventura revealed some of the film’s plot details to IGN<\/a> in a one-on-one interview.<\/p>\n