Space Invaders Movie in the Works From Mortal Kombat Writer

A new Space Invaders movie is now in the works by New Line, and has picked up Greg Russo as a writer, who is also penning the upcoming Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil movies. A movie adaptation of the classic arcade game from the 1970s has been kicking around for a few years after Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment picked up the movie rights back in 2014. There’s no word of when the movie will release or when it will even begin production, but we know Greg Russo will be joined by Weed Road Pictures’ Akiva Goldsman who is producing alongside Safehouse Pictures’ Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell.

As you would expect, there’s been no word on how New Line plans to adapt the arcade game from yesteryear into a movie, but it will surely take a lot of creativity. Space Invaders isn’t exactly the first series you’d think of when thinking about video games that would make for great movies. However, it’s a well-known IP, even if it’s not as prominent as it used to be.

For those that don’t know: Space Invaders is a 1978 arcade game created by Tomohiro Nishikado that came to the United States via Midway. The first ever fixed shooter and the origin point of the shoot ’em up genre, it’s one of the best-known and most important games of all time. In it, players have to defeat wave after wave of descending aliens with a horizontally moving laser, all in the name of high score bragging rights.

At the time, Space Invaders was the best-selling video game and the highest-grossing entertainment product at the time, grossing $3.8 billion, and netting a profit of $450 million. When you adjust for inflation, it made roughly $13 billion, making it the highest-grossing single video game of all-time. Again, the name Space Invaders doesn’t have as much weight as it used to, but it certainly is a big enough name for the movie treatment. The question is, will New Line do the iconic video game IP justice?

As always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there.

Source: Deadline