If you were a child in the late 70s to the early 80s, you probably have fond memories of playing game cartridges with your Atari 2600 console. It looks like Atari and Universal Pictures want to mine your nostalgia for some box office cash. The two just announced that many favorite Atari games are getting big-screen adaptations. But the list of games has many joystick and paddle fans wondering how movies can be crafted out of bare-bones games like Pong, Breakout, and others.
Check out the announcement and the full game list. (READ)
Atari and Universal Pictures have signed a deal to potentially make 10 movies based on the following games:
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 23, 2026
• Asteroids
• Adventure
• Berzerk
• Breakout
• Centipede
• Crystal Castles
• Millipede
• Missile Command
• Pong
• Yars’ Revenge
(Source: Deadline) pic.twitter.com/UOYNqzLAYt
We are finally getting the Atari Cinematic Universe (ACU).
— Punit (@Punitwts) July 23, 2026
They’re already making movies based on Nintendo and Sega properties. So Atari films seem less far-fetched than they would be otherwise.
But many posters don’t see the need to attach the Atari name to movies that don’t necessarily need the branding. Does a movie about a man escaping from robots need to be linked to Atari’s Berzerk, for example?
this is insane right? these IPs have zero value outside of nostalgia from 50+ year old gamers which is a tiny demographic. Whatever movies they make you could almost certainly have released them without the atari branding and nothing would change
— Doombacon (@DoomBacon) July 24, 2026
is this from 1984? and Why?
— crazer (@CrazerArts) July 23, 2026
those aren't story driven games, their graphics are just blips and squares, and they aren't anything anyone younger than Gen X even knows.
also: Yars' Revenge is one of the all-time greats! best ever 2600 game🤣✊
Recommended
I don’t think you could realistically ever make a movie based on a Atari game
— Thorny Rose | Soft Neci (neh-key) (@softrosebutill) July 24, 2026
No atari Game has like a significant story you can pull from
It just be like a generic sports fantasy or whatever movie with like a old ass Atari game name just slapped on it
Unlike modern video games that follow storylines and have characters, vintage Atari games are very basic. The spaceship pilot in Asteroids doesn’t have a name; we only know the game’s objective is to shoot space rocks and avoid getting hit by them or obliterated by the occasional flying saucer.
Even without details, one poster says three titles could make interesting films.
I’m thinking 3 of these may be good movies. The rest will be awful.
— Quintin Dailey (@QDailey) July 23, 2026
Which three? 👀
— Atari (@atari) July 23, 2026
Asteroid, Centipede, and Pong. Those are my favorites at least!
— Quintin Dailey (@QDailey) July 23, 2026
Centipede might work.
The most bizarre game-to-movie decision most people question is Pong, which is one of the simplest popular video games ever.
Can't wait for a 2-hour emotional storyline about a white dot bouncing between two sticks in Pong 💀🥀
— XO S Play ~ ♥️ (@XO_SPlay) July 23, 2026
Yeah pong movie about to go hard pic.twitter.com/nhZ5Xbv5No
— the zilla ✨ (@zillaofgod16421) July 23, 2026
How would you even go about making a movie about pong and breakout?
— thatbluedemon (@thatbluedemon) July 23, 2026
look they made a movie based on Battleship, so everything is possible
— Rodolfo Rosini ✨🖥️ (@rodolfor) July 23, 2026
We’ve already seen movies like Battleship, which had nothing to do with the Hasbro board game except the name. We had Clue way back in 1985. Movies based on video games are nothing new; a new Resident Evil movie is coming out soon. It’s not impossible to adapt these kinds of properties to the big screen, but if someone can pull off Yar’s Revenge: The Movie, we’re game.