It has been nearly 30 years since Atari released the mega-popular video game Asteroids.  Since its inception it has been widely thought that some studio in Hollywood would eventually pick up the rights and produce the popular arcade space shoot-em-up.  With the recent news that Universal won the 4-way bidding war for the rights, we no longer have to wait.

  A representative at Universal released an insider's look at his studio's upcoming plans for this inevitable blockbuster:

  "As I am sure you all have heard by now, Univeral has picked up the rights and has begun production on an old classic from most of our youths.  I am proud to announce that development is now underway and I would like to take this time to share a few exciting slides and give you a never before seen, behind the scenes look at Universal's: Asteroids.  I would like to first squash any rumors about Roland Emmerich heading up the directorial duties on this project.  Though a fine filmmaker, we really didn't feel that our vision of this classic matched what he had in mind during initial talks.  We simply did not want an hour and thirty-seven minutes of people dodging asteroid impacts and fighting off alien aerial assaults.  Our vision needs someone to translate the heart and soul of the script onto the screen, and as of yet, we have not found that person."

  "So the first slide I'd like to show you in this inside look shows a potential character model our artists at Universal have come up with.  We've worked hard to stay as faithful to the original 1979 game as we could and we are extremely happy with the results.  The biggest hurdle during the process was trying to find a way to humanize the original Asteroids story.  On its own its an incredibly in depth story, but we wanted to make sure that we would appeal to the largest audience we possibly could.  In doing so, our artists came up with the concept of "arms".  If you notice on the sides of the asteroid character model you see two arms.  This gives the character of the asteroid a more human look that people will definitely relate to.  I think this concept will allow our audience to connect with the characters in our movie on a very primitive and raw level.  Our audience will say to themselves: "Hey...I have arms too!" 

  "The next two slides I would like to show you are location shots.  Even though a majority of the film will take place in the farthest reaches of space, a sizable chunk will still take place on our home planet.  Our scouts spent years scouring the Earth for locations that spoke to the dramatic story that we wanted to tell.  As a little bit of backstory for you folks; we originally tried to gain the rights to this project over a decade ago.  We were going through the motions and had several key locations in our story picked out back then.  Ultimately it was decided that the technology in the industry was not advanced enough to support such a huge endeavor like Asteroids, but we actually used several of the locations that were scouted over ten years ago! 

  Both of the locations depicted here were chosen for their unique environments.  The first is actually a location that we are using for 

some flashbacks and we needed an outdoor space that represented certain "asteroid like events" that occured in the past.  This location gives that gritty old school feeling.  The asteroids that are in the first slide are actually asteroids that were shot apart already.  They crash landed on Earth after an epic war and the human race failed to finish the job. 

  The second slide is a location we are using for one of the present day battlegrounds for mankind's survival.  Notice the razor sharp asteroids?  This gives the whole Asteroids theme a very slick and updated look.  In addition you will notice that there are hundreds of them making up a whole land based asteroid field.  Fans of the Asteroids franchise will note that this is a LOT more than the allowed maximum of 12 asteroids on the screen at once!  *Paused for a chuckle*  In all seriousness this is going to blow our viewers away.  The non-stop action, and sheer amount of space rock that we are going to throw at them will make this the biggest release in the history of film.  As a side note; we are in talks with IMAX about concurrently developing both a digital version and a 3D version of the film that would be released simutaneously.  We here at Universal feel that nothing says "3D" like jagged rocks virtually stabbing you in the face."

  "The last slide I am going to show you is a bit of a secret.  In all honesty the producer would probably have my head if he knew I was revealing such a major piece of the ending.  However, we are all fans and I am sure you are all on the edge of your seat wondering, "What is he going to reveal?", so I won't tease you anymore. The bottom line is: Every great film has a great ending, and this is no exception.  We have reworked the ending so many times in an effort to give the fans a payoff that is worthy of a thirty year wait.  Here today, I would like to share with you...the first ever look at the final boss in the movie:

"Intense right?  The viewers literally will not believe their eyes when "Roid" is revealed on screen for the first time.  It is a force to be reckoned with and in trying my best not to spoil anything, I will only tell you that you can expect an epic 45 minute battle between the humans and the leader of the Asteroids."

"Thank you for sharing this inside look with me.  We are just as excited to produce this once in a lifetime opportunity as you, the viewer, are to watch it."

Look for Asteroids in Theaters and IMAX in the Summer 2011.