X-ray lithography and micro-machining have been used to study gas-assisted liquid atomization in which a liquid film was impinged by a large number of sonic micro-gas jets. Three distinct breakup regimes were demonstrated. Two of these regimes share characteristics with previously observed atomization processes: a bubble bursting at a free surface (Newitt et al. 1954; Boulton-Stone & Blake 1993) and liquid sheet disintegration in a high gas/liquid relative velocity environment (Dombrowski & Johns 1963). The present work shows that suitable control of the gas/liquid interface creates a third regime, a new primary atomization mechanism, in which single liquid droplets are ejected directly from the liquid film without experiencing an intermediate ligament formation stage. The interaction produces a stretched liquid sheet directly above each gas orifice. This effectively pre-films the liquid prior to its breakup. Following this, surface tension contracts the stretched film of liquid into a sphere which subsequently detaches from the liquid sheet and is entrained by the gas jet that momentarily pierces the film. After droplet ejection, the stretched liquid film collapses, covering the gas orifice, and the process repeats. This new mechanism is capable of the efficient creation of finely atomized sprays at low droplet ejection velocities (e.g. 20 μm Sauter mean diameter methanol sprays using air at 239 kPa, with air-to-liquid mass ratios below 1.0, and droplet velocities lower than 2.0 m s−1). Independent control of the gas and the liquid flows allows the droplet creation process to be effectively de-coupled from the initial droplet momentum, a characteristic not observed with standard gas-assisted atomization mechanisms.