In Case You Were Worried, Universal Has a New Writer for ‘Asteroids’ Arcade Game Adaptation

I’ve been particularly sarcastic in my articles this week, and though I’m not sure exactly why I can tell you that Hollywood isn’t making it easy for me.  After all, it’s not everyday that I get to report that a movie adaptation of a 1979 arcade game has found a new writer.  That arcade classic would be the Atari space adventure Asteroids, which was optioned by Universal back in 2009 and had Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) attached as director and Matt Lopez (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Bedtime Stories) as writer.  But there’s been little word since, while Asteroids producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has put an adaptation of Space Invaders, another arcade classic, in the works, too.  Not to mention that there’s also an adaptation of Missile Command in the pipeline, too!

But SlashFilm is reporting that Universal has hired Evan Spiliotopoulos to do a new draft on Lopez’s script.  Spiliotopoulos had written a slew of Disney direct-to-video sequels (including Tarzan 2 and Cinderella III), but has had more success recently with penning the scripts to the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman and Wanted 2, so he’s definitely moving up the food chain.

I don’t know how much faith I have in an Asteroids movie, but hey, at least it’s not yet another Street Fighter movie!