Tetris to become a live-action sci-fi film: ‘We’re not giving feet to the geometric shapes’

If Tron could come back to the big screen and still draw an audience almost 30 years later, if Transformers is one of the most successful movie franchises of the digital era, ifThe Wizard is still a thing that thirtysomethings think wistfully about as they tell their children about 8-bit technology, and if Denmark’s LEGO corporation could turn their plastic playsets into box office fodder on the back of a song unironically titled “Everything Is Awesome,” then why not a movie about the world’s all-time favourite puzzle game? Could a live-action Tetris movie be … the blockbuster of blockbusters?

Threshold Entertainment, the company behind the Mortal Kombat films, which grossed more than $100-million in the 1990s, is taking another swing at reviving fans’ love for a classic game on the big screen. No, really. And don’t think talking blocks, either — think of sweeping sci-fi genre film, OK?

Russian folk music and Tchaikovsky, check. Maddening hours spent aligning coloured lines, evenly across a screen, with ever-accelerating gameplay and music, and achieving bragging rights over friends just for having the quickest thumbs, check. OK, but … what, exactly, is the story going to be?

“This isn’t a movie with a bunch of lines running around the page. We’re not giving feet to the geometric shapes,” Threshold’s CEO Larry Kasanoff told the Wall Street Journal‘s Speakeasy blog on Tuesday.

“Brands are the new stars of Hollywood,” Kasanoff says. “We have a story behind ‘Tetris’ which makes it a much more imaginative thing.”

Threshold has teamed with the Tetris Company, and Kasanoff notes that while there is a story in place, there is not yet any star power or director attached to the project. In recent years, Threshold has worked on the LEGO, Marvel and Star Wars digital blockbuster franchises.

So who will help Tetris level up? We’ll keep an eye on the flying blocks in weeks and months to come …

By Jason Rehel, National Post