Atari and Universal Pictures partner to create a movie based on Pong, Asteroids, Missile Command, and more

Q: Are there any release date or production timeline details mentioned for the movie?

No. The primary article states that details on the movie remain scarce and does not provide any release date or production timeline information.

Q: Did the article say whether the film will be live-action, animated, or a mix?

The article does not specify whether the Atari-based movie will be live-action, animated, or a mix. It states that details on the movie remain scarce and does not indicate the film format.

Q: What quotes or statements did Atari representatives provide about the project in this article?

Atari representative Casady said, "Matt Reilly and I grew up playing Atari 2600 games and have remained fans ever since. The best Atari games dropped you into a world and let your imagination do the rest. Carl and Matt saw an opportunity to take that same spirit and build an original, large-scale adventure around it. From the moment we read the screenplay, we believed there was a great movie here."

Universal has greenlit a movie based on 10 classic Atari games, Asteroids, Adventure, Berzerk, Breakout, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, and more.

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Kosta Andreadis

Senior Editor

Published Jul 23, 2026 11:36 PM CDT

1-minute read time

TL;DR: Universal and Atari are developing a single film adapting ten classic Atari games - including Asteroids, Adventure, Berzerk, Breakout, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong, and Yars' Revenge - with a screenplay by Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe and production by Entertainment 360.

Voice: Kosta AndreadisSpeed

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Whether it's for television or the cinema, video game adaptations have come a long way in regards to quality. From Fallout to The Last of Us to Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog, making the jump from pixels to live action or animation can not only work but live up to fan expectations. Naturally, this means that we're going to get a lot more video game adaptations in the years ahead, with perhaps the strangest being a new deal between Atari and Universal Pictures.

Atari and Universal Pictures partner to create a movie based on Pong, Asteroids, Missile Command, and more 3

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And we say strange because we're talking about the project adapting a bunch of video games from an era that few modern gamers remember, let alone grew up during, the 1970s. The classic Atari franchises and games reportedly include Asteroids, Adventure, Berzerk, Breakout, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong, and Yars' Revenge. And they'll all be represented in a single movie.

The report over at Deadline, which broke the story, says that the movie will be based on all of these Atari IPs, produced by Entertainment 360, from a screenplay by Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe. Yeah, it's hard to imagine what it might look like other than it featuring some sort of homage to these classic retro games which don't feature much in the way of story.

Read more: Quake and GoldenEye 007 inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame

Atari and Universal Pictures partner to create a movie based on Pong, Asteroids, Missile Command, and more 2

"Matt Reilly and I grew up playing Atari 2600 games and have remained fans ever since," said Casady. "The best Atari games dropped you into a world and let your imagination do the rest. Carl and Matt saw an opportunity to take that same spirit and build an original, large-scale adventure around it. From the moment we read the screenplay, we believed there was a great movie here."

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