Does the name Nolan Bushnell sound familiar? If not, it will be as Paramount Pictures has given the green light on a movie that will be named simply, "Atari." The film will be a biopic and show the life and times of Atari co-founder Bushnell.
Bushnell is considered one of the primary movers and shakers during the infancy of the gaming industry in the 1970s and 1980s and made the coin-op arcade machine a nationwide fad with the introduction of the game "Pong."
Atari later made its Atari 2600 home game console one of the most popular consoles of its day. While the games seem rather primitive by today’s standards, the 2600 made the concept of home gaming a mainstream event in many households.
Leonardo DiCaprio will star as the video game pioneer and will produce the movie though his Appian Way production company.
The market for Bushnell’s life story has been a hot item in Hollywood but the Atari founder constantly turned down suitors until Brian Hecker and Craig Sherman convinced Bushnell that they could do his story justice.
No schedule for the release date of the movie has been announced.
[via Variety]
