Universal Wants Roland Emmerich to Helm 'Asteroids' Movie

As a former Atari game console co-owner, my older brother being the other, I used to spend hours playing games like Frogger, Astroids, Pac-Man, Joust, Crystal Castles, Combat, Space Invaders and many more.  I'll always have a soft spot for the classic video games of my youth.  

Apparently, Universal shares the same nostalgia and is on a mission to adapt Asteroids into a feature film, and have gone so far as to extend an offer to disaster movie guru Roland Emmerich to direct, Vulture reports.

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No Go for Roland Emmerich's Science Project, 'The Zone'

Just two weeks ago, we told you about a low-budget $5 million sci-fi film Roland Emmerich will be working on.  Well so much for that.  The Hollywood Reporter claim sources close to the director say the project entitled The Zone, is shut down.

The movie was suppose to start shooting next week and was aimed to showcase the director's range and ability to stretch the dollar while still producing a blockbuster flick.

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Is Low Budget Sci-Fi Films the Latest Trend? Roland Emmerich in 'The Zone'

As CG and special effects technology improved drastically in recent years, filmmakers are benefiting from the decreasing costs in making a visually appealing film.  Before, sci-fi had been a genre only reserved for big budget films.  But now, everyone from amateur filmmakers on YouTube to big time hollywood directors can stretch the dollar more than ever before.

Most recent example of this, is the film Skyline, which reportedly had a budget of $10 - $20 million despite the fact that the action sequences look like it's from a film with a nine-figure budget.  Attempting to one up this feat is Roland Emmerich who will create a sci-fi film with a large-scale alien invasion called The Zone for under $5 million.

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More 'Independence Days' Sequel(s) Rumors

Unconfirmed but not unexpected, a news item about not one but two Independence Day sequels was reported earlier at IESB. Roland Emmerich broached the subject several months ago, and with the big success of 2012 (the number 31 movie of all-time in global box office), if Emmerich wants to revisit the franchise, what studio wouldn't want to do that?

The studio in Fox, which probably made a comfortable amount of money from something called Avatar (who involved didn't?), and while there was a point in time that 20th didn't want to pay Will Smith $20 million plus a percentage of first-dollar grosses, if the IESB report is accurate, there's been a change in the weather there. The current rumor has Smith starring in both sequels, which would shoot back-to-back, so without getting into the math, it's safe to say Will can finally afford to buy his kids nice things, like maybe their own movie franchises. Oh wait...he's already doing that.

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Roland Emmerich Made $100 Million Off '2012'

We've been paying attention to the box office performance of 2012 ever since it was released in mid-November. I think we've probably been more aware of it than a lot of movie sites, simply because I'm intrigued by the way Sony manipulated the overseas markets, so I am perhaps less suprised than others might be by the news that director Roland Emmerich is cashing a hefty, hefty check.

The Wrap reports that because Emmerich agreed to a deal paying him an advance of $20 million as writer-producer-director against 20% of the gross, the film's $650 million-plus in worldwide ticket sales has secured him roughly $100 million. That's Michael Bay money, by the by. According to one rival studio executive who passed on the movie because of the script, "Roland’s deal was really rich. And you had to believe the film would do north of $600 million to make it worth your while.”

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