Universal catches 'Asteroids'

Studio wins feature rights to Atari videogame

By DAVE MCNARY

Universal’s won the bidding for feature rights to the vintage Atari vidgame “Asteroids” and set up the project with Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

Fox and Sony were also bidders on the project.

Atari launched “Asteroids” in 1979, and the 2-D game became one of the most widely known titles as the vidgame biz blossomed in the decade that followed.

Studio has assigned Matt Lopez to pen the script. His credits include “Race to Witch Mountain” and “Bedtime Stories.”

Di Bonaventura’s recent projects include “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” “Imagine That” and the upcoming “G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra” for Par.