Universal Pictures has asked Roland Emmerich to direct a movie based on the 1979 Atari video game Asteroids, ComingSoon is reporting. The studio, which has been developing the movie with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and screenwriter Matt Lopez, looked to the popular director, as he has helmed such disaster-action hits as ‘Independence Day’ and ‘2012.’

The movie will detail Earth’s future after the planet is destroyed by aliens. Humans are now living in an asteroid belt with the aliens responsible for the Earth’s destruction.

Emmerich has not yet signed onto the project, as he recently said he’s finished with sci-fi-action destruction films. His next movie, ‘Anonymous,’ which presents the theory that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, is the real author of the plays and sonnets credited to William Shakespeare, is scheduled for an October 28, 2011 release.

Written by: Karen Benardello