Will ‘Tetris’ filmmakers think outside the blocks?

BEIJING — It lacks the building blocks of characters and a plot for now, but a Chinese-American studio hopes to turn the “Tetris” video game into a blockbuster movie.

The project is the first for the studio, a newly formed joint venture between Chinese entertainment investor Bruno Wu’s Seven Star Works and producer Larry Kasanoff’s Threshold Entertainment Group, which produces live-action movies.

“For our debut project, Threshold Global Studios will bring one of the most beloved, cross-generational gaming brands in the world to the big screen as an epic, sci-fi thriller,” Kasanoff said in a statement.

[...] the idea of making it into a film sounds extremely silly, said personal trainer Xu Jie, 30, interviewed in downtown Beijing last week.

The Sino-U.S. co-production fits into Hollywood’s strategy of teaming up with Chinese companies in the hope of striking big with the fast-growing Chinese market, now the world’s second-largest box office behind North America.

The studio did not reveal the name of the movie, but said it will be in the mold of such computer game-inspired film productions as “Resident Evil,” ‘'Tomb Raider and “Mortal Kombat.”