Tetris Getting the Movie Treatment

The pieces are falling into place.

By Andy Hoover. Posted 05/17/2016 17:00 3 Comments     ShareThis

In recent years, China has emerged as a hugely influential force in the motion picture agency; its massive populations means there is a huge source of potential viewers, and its continued economic success means there are lots of investors looking to get a piece of the pie. Naturally, Hollywood has been more than happy to follow the money, thus making co-productions with Chinese companies all the more common, and the product of one such co-production is apparently going to be a movie based on a game designed by a Russian, Tetris.

Now, you might be asking, “Who wants to make a movie based about a game about lining up falling blocks?” The answer is a Chinese media mogul and one of the guys responsible for the Mortal Kombat movies. Bruno Wu, head of Seven Star Works, is partnering with Lawrence Kasanoff, head of Threshold Entertainment Group, to create Threshold Global Studios, which has already secured the $80 million dollars needed to fulfill their vision of Tetris on the big screen.

Kasanoff has promised the movie won’t be “at all what you think; it will be a cool surprise.” Personally, I believe him, because I don’t even have the slightest clue as to what a Tetris movie could be. The producers apparently have some idea in mind, because they have already stated it will be a sci-fi thriller and will begin filming in 2017, primarily in China with a Chinese cast.

Oh, and it will be the first part of a trilogy, of course.

In all seriousness, though, I would dare say Tetris the Movie has a better chance of being good than most video game to film adaptations. One of the pitfalls of making such a transition is finding out how to balance influences from two often opposing art forms to create a cohesive whole that honors its source material while still functioning as a quality film. Unlike many other game properties, Tetris is pretty much completely devoid of a world, characters, or even a real aesthetic, so there really isn’t much holding it down. So long as the movie involves falling blocks in some way, it would be hard to argue it’s a bad adaptation, thus freeing the filmmakers to focus on making a good movie first and foremost. Now, we’ll just have to wait and see if they realize this.

Source: Deadline

3 Responses to “Tetris Getting the Movie Treatment”

  • 1555 points
    penduin says...

    Well I guess that movie about Lego blocks was pretty popular. ;^)

    Tetris is about as pure of a video game as exists. I can imagine that a movie might involve some sort of nod or homage to its mechanics, but other than having some kind of imagery displayed on some kind of screen, there’s really nothing the game has in common with movies. I would watch a documentary about how Tetris was created, its bizarre early political and legal circumstances, and its impact on interactive entertainment, but they’re talking big-budget, so I doubt that’s what’s going on.

    Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll eventually see it. I just can’t help myself where Tetris is concerned.

    • 819 points
      Toadlord says...

      Penduin, ever seen Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters? It might have what you’re looking for. It follows some of the best players of the game and is sprinkled with Tetris and Nintendo history as well. I was blown away seeing some of the techniques people use to get an edge in the game. It’s documentary style as well.

      I’ve tried to get a few people to watch it with me again, but no luck so far. Let me know what you think if you do see it!

  • 1555 points
    penduin says...

    I’ll have to check that out! It’s those kinds of very advanced players for whom I recently made KBtris, where every key on the keyboard corresponds with a specific column and orientation. I can just barely manage above 20 lines per minute myself (I still make lots of mistakes trying to put pieces where I want them) but I hope one day to witness players like that do astonishing things.
    http://kbtris.penduin.net/

    Not sure if I should be plugging such things here, but what the hell. It’s not the first time I’ve made an insane Tetris clone either; TONG has you playing Tetris and Pong in the same place at the same time. The Wii version is my favorite. :^)
    http://tong.nongnu.org/

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