‘Tetris’ Movie in the Works, Will Be a “Very Big, Epic Sci-Fi” Film
What was a joke just two years ago, is now going to be a very serious reality: the classic strategy video game 'Tetris' is becoming a movie.
Back in 2012, when 'Battleship' was about to hit theaters, a parody trailer for a 'Tetris' movie was created with the description, "If Battleship gets its own movie, why not Tetris?" Why not Tetris, indeed. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Threshold Entertainment, who brought you perhaps the worst animated movie ever in 'Foodfight!', is teaming up with the Tetris Company to develop a live-action film that producers describe as "a very big, epic sci-fi movie." And this is coming from Larry Kasanoff, the producer of such cinematic greats as 'C.H.U.D. II' and 'Ghoulies 3' and he knows epic sci-fi!
If you're not already questioning the very fabric of our existence, there's this additional quote from Kasanoff: "Brands are the new stars of Hollywood." Also, this quote: "We certainly have the canvas for location-based entertainment based on the epicness." We'll pause for a moment as you facepalm.
How exactly they plan to adapt a game about falling blocks into an "epic sci-fi movie" remains to be seen, but Kasanoff says, "What you [will] see in ‘Tetris’ is the teeny tip of an iceberg that has intergalactic significance." We have no idea what that means, but it already sounds completely ridiculous. So far, no writers, directors or actors are attached to the film.
Tetris was created by Alexey Pajitnov in 1984 and released on a number of consoles like the Commodore 64, but it wasn't until its release on Nintendo's Game Boy in 1989 did it catch on as a cultural phenomenon (The New York Times would later call Tetris "one of the ten most important video games of all time.")
Threshold doesn't have a lot of experience in the feature film business. Kasanoff wasted $45 million on 'Foodfight!' which is both astounding in that he was able to raise that kind of money and that a $45 million movie could look so horrible. The majority of their work comes via animation for theme park rides like Star Trek 4D and Epcot's Mission: Space.