A Tetris movie adaptation is happening as an $80 million co-production between U.S. and Chinese studios.
By now, those of us who follow the news cycle have become immune to the initial, “they’re making a movie about THAT?” shock regarding planned adaptations. Indeed, while the idea of a movie adapting Tetris might mentally evoke imagery of some Michael Bay yarn where Victoria’s Secret models strike slow motion poses against the backdrop of giant CGI blocks wreaking havoc on our cities, it’s not all that inconceivable. Now, it’s happening!
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the long-discussed prospects of a Tetris movie adaptation are close to becoming realized with a new international coalition of media moguls looking co-produce the project. China-based producer Bruno Wu will join U.S.-based producer Lawrence Kasanoff (Mortal Kombat, True Lies) that will see Wu’s Seven Star Works and Kasanoff’s Threshold Entertainment Group operate under the joint name Threshold Global Studios. Tetris will be the kickoff project for this new venture with an $80 million production budget reportedly committed to line up four proverbial rows of blocks at the box-office.
While we do know that the Tetris film project is being touted as an “epic sci-fi thriller,” nothing in the way of plot or personnel has been revealed at this point (although it seems that the reported involvement of director Brett Ratner is no longer valid). Yet, it's worth considering that a similar-sounding film recently came to the big screen in the 2015 Adam Sandler video game invasion comedy Pixels. Armed with a similar budget ($88 million), that film would become a domestic dud that was almost universally eviscerated from a critical standpoint. Moreover, Pixels– based off a 2010 viral short film of the same name – also prominently featured Tetris blocks falling from the sky. Thus, quite a bit of work is ahead for this new U.S./China cinematic coalition to make sure their debut project doesn’t fall prey to the same traps that snared Pixels.
What the Tetris film could have in its favor is pure brand recognition on a global level, especially seeing as it will bear the name of one of the popular video games ever conceived. Created by Russian programmer Alexey Pajitnov and first released in 1984 as a primitive monochromatic computer block game, the name Tetris would eventually become synonymous with accessible, work computer brands of casual gaming across all platforms, especially after receiving a prominent boost as the pack-in cartridge to Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld in 1989; a success that was mutually beneficial to both game and console. Adapted in countless forms, Tetris remains a generation-bridging global phenomenon.
Certainly, the idea of a U.S./China coalition throwing $80 million at a thus-far shapeless Tetris movie is something that we’ll look forward to updating in the coming months.
