'Tetris' to Become a Live-Action Movie With 'Intergalactic Significance'

The popular ’80s computer game — which has sold an astonishing 170 million copies since in release in 1984 — is heading to the big screen. According to a Wall Street Journal story, a deal has been struck between Threshold Entertainment and the Tetris Company to develop a live-action version of the puzzle game in which players control a maddening series of blocks that cascade down the screen.

The project lacks a director and cast, but — despite what you might be wondering — there is indeed a story. (Keep your curiosity in check: No details were revealed just yet.) “This isn’t a movie with a bunch of lines running around the page,” Threshold CEO Larry Kasanoff told theSpeakeasy blog. “We’re not giving feet to the geometric shapes.”

Kasanoff is no stranger to game-to-movie adaptations: He was one of the producers of 1995’s Mortal Kombat and its 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which grossed $70 million and $35 million, respectively. Recent big-screen adaptation of video games include the 2008’s Max Payne, the 2010 bomb Prince of Persia (see the trailer below), this year’s Need for Speed, and the Resident Evil films. In the works right now are a fantasy epic based on the MMORPG Warcraft, and 3D animated version of Angry Birds.

The Threshold exec has rather grand plans for his block-busting property — he imagines creating experiences that go beyond the multiplex. Said Kasanoff: “What you [will] see in ‘Tetris’ is the teeny tip of an iceberg that has intergalactic significance.”

By Wook Kim