Atari signs deal with Universal for ten movies based on Pong, Asteroids, and other classics

Atari has struck a deal with Universal Pictures and Entertainment 360 to develop up to ten movies based on classic games from its back catalogue. The announcement confirms Hollywood's appetite for video game IP shows no signs of slowing down — even when that IP is a 50-year-old paddle-and-ball game.

The deal covers ten properties: Asteroids, Adventure, Berzerk, Breakout, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong, and Yars' Revenge. The stated goal is "big-scale action-adventure fare." One project is already in active development, though which game it adapts hasn't been disclosed — Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe are writing the script. Atari CEO Wade Rosen called it an opportunity to bring "the spirit of our iconic brand and games to a new medium."

Universal is no stranger to video game adaptations, for better and worse. The studio distributed the Super Mario Galaxy film, which crossed a billion dollars at the box office, and the Five Nights at Freddy's movie, which posted the second-largest opening weekend ever for a game adaptation. It also put out the 2005 Doom film and the 2016 Warcraft movie, both of which landed with considerably less fanfare. Whether Atari's minimalist arcade classics — games defined by a handful of pixels and a high score — can sustain feature-length narratives is a question the deal conspicuously leaves unanswered.

No release window has been set for any of the ten films. Given that even the first project's source game is still under wraps, it's safe to assume none of these are arriving soon.