Taron Egerton’s ‘Tetris’ Movie Lands at Apple

After slowly dropping from a great height and rotating in the air a few times, the Tetris movie has fit snugly into place at Apple. To be clear: this isn’t a film based on the game itself. Rather, it’s about the creation of the game and its licensing around the world. Taron Egerton is set to star as Henk Rogers, the Dutch video game designer who was the first to secure the rights to distribute Tetris on consoles.

Deadline has the scoop on the Tetris movie heading to Apple. Jon S. Baird is directing the movie, which is based on the true story of Henk Rogers, who is known for “securing the rights to distribute Tetris on video game consoles where the game found popularity, and as the founder of Bullet-Proof Software (now called Blue Planet Software) and The Tetris Company, which licenses the Tetris trademark.”

Henk’s story was covered in the 2016 book The Tetris Effect: The Cold War Battle for the World’s Most Addictive Game. Here’s a synopsis:

21 February 1989. Three men fly into Moscow, representing software giants from Britain, America, and Japan. Each of them is determined to undercut the others in order to secure a technology so powerfully addictive it has brought the government department that created it to a standstill. In a country on the brink of seismic change, where spycraft is about to give way to cut-throat capitalism, Tetris has become the grand prize. Featuring corporate espionage, unmarked government organizations, courtroom drama and international conspiracies, the origin of the world’s most popular video game is a gripping, fast-paced thriller of the highest order.

This video goes into even more detail.

Once upon a time, there were plans to make a big sci-fi movie trilogy based on the Tetris games, but I have to say I’m much more excited for this behind-the-scenes story instead. It sounds a lot more interesting than a CGI-filled spectacle. Deadline adds that they’re still trying to round out the cast of the film, looking for actors to play “Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov, who first created the game, and the businessmen Robert and Kevin Maxwel.”

Matthew Vaughn‘s Marv Films is producing and financing the project, while Noah Pink penned the screenplay. This is yet another high-profile title for Apple, who also have Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Antoine Fuqua‘s Emancipation, and more on the horizon. When Apple TV+ first launched it felt like a missed opportunity – none of their original shows seemed buzzworthy. But since then they’ve been building up a solid list of upcoming movie titles to look out for.

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