Not a joke: A Tetris movie is being made

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by Kyle Orland - ars technica




Tetris, the block-stacking game that comes in near the top of many lists of greatest games ever, is being made into a live-action, feature-length, "sci-fi epic" motion picture, The Tetris Company announced today.

Before you ask, no, this is not a joke. You'd be forgiven for asking, though, because the very idea of a movie based on Tetris has been an Internet joke countless times in the past.

The film is being developed by Threshold Entertainment, best known to gaming crossover fans as the studio behind the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie. That film, which grossed $70 million, was one of the first to take a video game license to the silver screen, and it's still critically considered one of the best examples of the based-on-the-game sub-genre (though that's really somewhat damning with faint praise).

"Everyone knows that Tetris is one of the best known, most beloved brands in the world," Threshold Chairman Larry Kasanoff said in a statement. "What everyone doesn't know yet is this epic sci*-fi story that we're going to tell. That's what's really exciting."

Elaborating to The Wall Street Journal, Kasanoff clarified that "this isn't a movie with a bunch of lines running around the page. We’re not giving feet to the geometric shapes... What you [will] see in Tetris is the teeny tip of an iceberg that has intergalactic significance."

It's worth stating again at this point that a Tetris movie is not a joke. Then again, neither were Universal's option on an Asteroids movie in 2009, nor Warner Bros.' 2006 deal to make a Spy Hunter film, neither of which have yet to actually produce big screen results. And that's just the tip of the iceberg regarding in-development game-to-film adaptations, a list that includes everything from Heavy Rain to Minecraft movie projects.

Even in the retro-gaming sphere, Warner Bros. optioned the rights to a Space Invaders movie just a few months ago. That should prove handy, since it means no other studio can now make a movie about an alien invasion. That's how it works, right?

In a world where a movie based on the board game Battleship can gross $300 million, we suppose there are weirder things than using Tetris as the basis for a film. If you want to watch a movie about real competitive Tetris players right now, though, may we suggest the excellent documentary The Ecstasy of Order.

[deebakes]

dr. mario would be a better story line

[redred]

can't wait for this to come out on blueray