‘Space Invaders’ Movie Now Officially in the Works

It may have taken 50 years, but it’s finally happening: a Space Invaders movie is officially in the works. The original Space Invaders game was released in 1978 and has a simple premise: the player controls a spaceship and shoots down the invading aliens. However, that won’t stop a movie adaptation from being made, and it couldn’t come at a better time, with successful video game adaptations like A Minecraft Movie dominating the box office and HBO’s The Last of Us receiving critical acclaim. Moreover, a creative team has already been attached to the project.

According to an exclusive report from Deadline, New Line Cinema has recruited screenwriters Ben Zazove and Evan Turner to write the script for the Space Invaders movie, stating that it will be directly inspired by the Taito arcade game that has become so iconic. No specific story details have been revealed yet, as the project is still in its earliest stages of development. What is known is that Akiva Goldsman from Weed Road Pictures will produce the movie in partnership with Joby Harold and Troy Turnell from Safehouse Pictures.

Space Invaders was originally developed by Tomohiro Nishikado and is a highly popular title widely considered one of the early pioneers of the “shoot ’em up” genre of video games. Given that players are tasked with defending Earth from alien invaders, one can only assume that the adaptation will feature the same action-packed excitement that made the original arcade game so successful and innovative for its time. Space Invaders’ initial massive success at arcades has helped spawn an endless number of ports, reboots, and remakes on a variety of consoles since then.

‘Space Invaders’ Can Capitalize on the Recent Success of Other Video Game Adaptations

Video game adaptations have become increasingly relevant, with certain IPs being deemed worthy of movie or television screens; the name of the video game alone is often enough to drive success at the box office. Look no further than A Minecraft Movie, which, despite the 48% “rotten” score on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, proved to be a hit with audiences, earning an 85% audience score on the site. There is also the incredibly impressive $955 million worldwide box office haul, which showcases a strong interest in adaptations of beloved video game titles.

Given that Space Invaders is a video game from the late 70s, there is also an opportunity to create a unique visual aesthetic for the film, reminiscent of the art direction that A Minecraft Movie took with its blocky world. Rather than opting for a realistic portrayal, Ben Zazove and Evan Turner have the opportunity to create an adaptation with a unique visual flair that calls back to the retro, pixelated graphics of the video game.

Zazove and Turner are known for writing the Netflix original film The Out-Laws, an action comedy starring Adam Devine, Pierce Brosnan, and Ellen Barkin, which was released in 2023. This will be the writing duo’s first video game adaptation, and it will be interesting to see what story they craft from such a simple premise. If anything, the inherently simple nature of the Space Invaders game lends itself to a more creative film adaptation, which can play fast and loose with characters and story.

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