After seeing the PAC-MAN reimagining on Amazon, I'm a little sceptical about this news. But hey, my job is to remain open-minded, so I'm going to do my best. After the success of other video game adaptations coming to the screen, it seems that Atari have thrown their hat into the Hollywood ring and given Universal Pictures permission to turn 10 of their IPs into movies.
Working alongside Entertainment 360, they've already secured Carl Hampe of Hellboy and the Point Break remake fame, and Matt Reilly, the mind behind Hancock and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, to work on the new project.
Taken from an exclusive with Deadline, Atari CEO and Chairman Wade Rosen explains that "For more than five decades, Atari has created games and worlds that have remained part of popular culture long after their original release. We are excited to work with Universal and Entertainment 360 to bring the spirit of our iconic brand and games to a new medium."
So what could we be looking at here? Missile Command starring The Rock? Galaxian starring Batista? I bet there are a lot of actors who grew up with Atari games who would jump at the chance to star in a film adaptation of their favourite titles, but I just don't know how turning games with very little storyline into films is going to go. Look at the first Mario Bros. Movie as an example; we all know how that went down!
Time will tell, but with Hampe and Reilly already working on a screenplay, we might not have that long to wait until we see some results!
