Space Invaders targeting big screen - Report

Arcades may be a thing of the past in the West, but they're apparently just gaining momentum in Hollywood. Following up on news that Missile Command and Asteroids would be heading to the big screen, The Hollywood Reporter has indicated that the Taito classic Space Invaders has taken the first step toward a feature film adaptation.

According to the report, producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Gigi Pritzker have optioned the rights to make a Space Invaders feature film. While this will be Pritzker's first game-to-film project (her previous credits include last year's Rabbit Hole and 2008's The Spirit), di Bonaventura has reached into the game industry for source material before. He was attached to produce a movie based on the arcade classic Asteroids in 2009 and had a hand in 2005's adaptation of Doom, which made it to theaters but was met with critical approbation. More recently, di Bonaventura has produced the Transformers and G.I. Joe big-screen adaptations. The project is still in the very early stages, with the producers currently looking for a writer.

The early days of gaming are an apparently fertile ground for feature films. In addition to Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Missile Command, Leonardo DiCaprio has previously been tapped to play Nolan Bushnell in a biopic about the Atari founder.