Universal secures rights for film adaptations of 10 Atari games

Hollywood has been regularly turning to video games as inspiration for blockbusters, and the latest deal to put pixels on the big screen features Atari. Deadline reports that the game brand has inked a partnership with Universal Pictures for the rights to adapt ten of its properties for the big screen. The deal includes Asteroids, Adventure, Berzerk, Breakout, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong and Yars' Revenge.

Universal has already bought a screenplay centered on one of the Atari titles, although it didn't specify which or if the proposed movie would be an Atari Cinematic Universe combining properties. The spec script is by Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe and will be produced by Guymon Casady at Entertainment 360.

"The best Atari games dropped you into a world and let your imagination do the rest," Casady said. "Carl and Matt saw an opportunity to take that same spirit and build an original, large-scale adventure around it. From the moment we read the screenplay, we believed there was a great movie here."

"For more than five decades, Atari has created games and worlds that have remained part of popular culture long after their original release," Atari Chairman and CEO Wade Rosen told Deadline. "We are excited to work with Universal and Entertainment 360 to bring the spirit of our iconic brand and games to a new medium."

Universal had previously picked up the rights for an adaptation of Asteroids back in 2009, but nothing made it to screen in the interim.