We’ve had a LEGO movie. A Playmobil movie. A Sonic The Hedgehog movie. A LEGO Ninjago movie. Even a G.I. Joe movie. We knew a Tetris movie would be next.
Taron Egerton is set to star in a movie about the messy and complicated history of Tetris.
Egerton gained worldwide recognition for starring as Gary “Eggsy” Unwin in the Kingsman franchise and for his portrayal of music legend Elton John in Rocketman. He is also the recipient of a Golden Globe Award and has been nominated for two British Academy Film Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
According to reports, the Tetris movie will be a biopic in which Egerton portrays video game designer Henk Rogers. The story will chronicle the complicated rights battle which ensued over the popular puzzle game in the late 1980s.
Henk was involved in a dispute over the game’s rights with several programming and software companies controlled by media mogul Robert Maxwell and his son Kevin. He ultimately secured the intellectual property rights to Tetris and shared them with its creator/designer Alexey Pajitnov. Until that point, Pajitnov had not received any credit or financial compensation for the game.
The news was first reported by entertainment columnist Baz Bamigboye, who shared the news on social media…
Breaking: @TaronEgerton , @goldenglobes winner for @rocketmanmovie ,to portray video game designer @henkrogers in #Tetris dir by @jonsbaird .About Cold War legal skirmishes over ownership of the Tetris game.The #Maxwells were involved! pic.twitter.com/VuWYvRGMuD
— Baz Bamigboye (@BazBam) July 16, 2020
Jon S. Baird, who recently worked on the biopic Stan & Ollie, is set to take the helm as director. Leonard Blavatnik and Matthew Vaughn will serve as the film’s producers. Production is expected to begin in September, with the appropriate safety measures in place due to the global pandemic.
Taron Egerton is currently working on a remake of Little Shop of Horrors, where he plays florist a named Seymour Krelborn. The movie has a few other notable stars in the cast such as Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Billy Porter.