EXCLUSIVE: Partnering with Entertainment 360, Atari has signed a deal with Universal Pictures giving the studio first look at developing ten classic Atari video game properties for the big screen. Universal has bought the first project from the new partnership, a feature film based on Atari IP which will be produced by Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady from a screenplay by Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe. Both of them will also be producers.
“For more than five decades, Atari has created games and worlds that have remained part of popular culture long after their original release,” said Wade Rosen, Chairman and CEO of Atari in confirming for 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.”
The 10 properties include the ones we grew up playing until we were bleary eyed: Asteroids, Adventure, Berzerk, Breakout, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong, and Yars’ Revenge. The aim is to use the IP to create big scale action adventure fare.
The catalyst was an original spec by Reilly, the longtime studio exec at Universal who pivoted to screenwriting and producing, and Hampe, whose script work includes the franchises Hellboy and Jungle Cruise.
“Matt Reilly and I grew up playing Atari 2600 games and have remained fans ever since,” said Entertainment 360’s Casady. “The best Atari games dropped you into a world and let your imagination do the rest. 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.”
Atari is represented by IAG and Vanderkloot Law. Universal did not comment.
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