Producer Describes 'Asteroids' Concept As "More Of A Space Opera" Than A Disaster Movie

Asteroids is one of those video game properties that Hollywood has toyed with cracking open for a while. The name has recognition for any gamer who knows their classics, and is evocative even to those who don't. There's no story to the game, however, just a ship blasting away to stay alive.

No wonder it has been in development for several years; while there's potential, there's also not much to go on, and therefore room for dithering and competing ideas. But one of the project's overseers suggests there's a single take on the title in place now, and a plan to make it work.

Screenrant talked to Transformers and G.I. Joe producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura about the developing project that he's been building for Universal. He first explained that his attraction to the film is based on the title:

It just seems like that's big. Like, what? Asteroids? That's big. What's going on up there? When I look at that project, that's what I think about it, is I think about the scale of it and I think about the possibility of it.

You might scoff at the notion of basing interest on the title, but there are plenty of examples of films where a title came first. (Val Lewton's films, such as Cat People, are good ones.) Then there's the fact of the simple recognizance and evocative nature of the title. There are worse places to start.

He went on to explain that, while Roland Emmerich was once attached to direct, this isn't intended as a disaster film:

It's not a disaster movie, yeah, if we're successful at getting it made. It's much more of a space opera. It's like a great sci-fi movie if we get it done right. It is not at all what people think it is. People think, 'Oh, the asteroid's gonna hit the earth,' and I have no interest in doing that. That's been done exceedingly well before. No, this takes place in an asteroid belt, the whole movie.

Here's the full interview: