Fan Casting Pong: The Motion Picture (1993)

The arena. The Pongitron. “How’s that for a bad hit, Team Leader?” The Ball Chase. The music of Guns N’ Roses. The liberation of Pong City One. Any of these phrases instantly brings to mind one of the most notorious cult films of all time: Pong: The Motion Picture. Released in December 1992 in Europe and Japan, the movie didn’t get a proper release in the United States until August 1993, when, after all the buzz it garnered overseas, it landed in American theaters with a “game over.” However, just like Eric Stoltz’s protagonist, Jace, the Pong movie rose up from the Ball Mines of shame to become the Paddle Prince of cult movies, forging a bright future for cinematic video game adaptations to this day. Now, on the movie’s 25th anniversary, here is the definitive oral history of the tale of Planet Pongia and how it came to be.