Arcade Classic ‘Missile Command’ to Be Made into a Film?

I’m a fan of classic arcade games. Honestly, I’d rather spend a few quarters playing a few rounds of Pac-Man than playing any of those newfangled Call of Duty games. But I definitely realize that those classic early 1980s arcade games lacked much of a story or characters — then again, when you have a big yellow circle eating pellets and escaping ghosts, there’s all the story you need right there. But apparently film studios believe otherwise — Variety reported yesterday that Atari has put in motion a big screen adaption of the classic Atari arcade game Missile Command at Fox. Hit “more” to get an idea of what to expect from the adaptation!

The object of Missile Command is mostly self-explanatory. The player uses missiles to shoot down approaching enemy missiles to save the planet in glorious 1980 graphics. Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (the upcoming Dracula Year Zero and the upcoming Flash Gordon film) will write the screenplay. Since neither of these guys have had a film that they wrote released yet, it’s a bit tough to judge the quality of this casting. Then again, they pretty much can do whatever they want since the story of the game is so basic.

Chernin Entertainment will be producing the film for 20th Century Fox. Chernin Entertainment is a relatively new company headed by former Fox head honcho Peter Chernin. Rise of the Apes, due out this year, will be Chernin Entertainment’s first film production. As you can see, this film is mostly made up of totally untested talent. That’s a good sign, right? Right?

Anyway, why don’t you play a round or two of Missile Command at Atari’s official website for old time’s sake? Just be sure to come back and let us know your high score in the comments!