Pixels is a 2015 science fiction comedy film directed by Chris Columbus from a screenplay by Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling. Loosely adapted from the 2010 French short film by Patrick Jean, the film stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, and Brian Cox. In the film, an alien force misinterprets videotaped footage of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, resulting in them attacking Earth with technological recreations of icons from the games; the president of the United States assembles a team of former arcade champions to lead the planet's defense.
Development on the film began in 2010, when Sandler obtained the rights to the short film via his Happy Madison Productions company and hired Herlihy to write the script, with Dowling brought on for rewrites later in production. In 2013, Columbus entered talks to direct the film after being drawn to its nostalgic homage to 1980s arcade games such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Space Invaders, all of which were licensed for use in the film. Principal photography took place in Toronto for three months, which involved extensive night shoots and practical sets. Visual effects and post-production, led by Digital Domain and Sony Pictures Imageworks, focused on creating voxelized and three-dimensional versions of arcade game characters to integrate into the live-action footage.
Pixels was released theatrically in the United States on July 24, 2015, by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film received negative reviews from critics and grossed $245 million on a budget of $110 million. It was deemed to become the last Happy Madison film to be released in theaters, by the following deal from Netflix.
Plot
In 1982, Sam Brenner and his friends Will Cooper and Ludlow "The Wonder Kid" Lamonsoff play at an amusement arcade together before Brenner participates in a video game championship, where he seemingly loses a Donkey Kong match to Eddie "The Fireblaster" Plant. Videotaped footage of the event is put in a time capsule that gets launched into outer space.
In the present, Brenner, now an electronics installer, is summoned alongside lieutenant colonel Violet van Patten to the White House, where Cooper, now President of the United States, shows surveillance footage of a besiegement at the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Brenner notes the attack's resemblance to the game Galaga, but Admiral James Porter of the United States Navy strongly advocates against its inference in the case. Brenner meets up with Ludlow, who reveals the attack was caused by an alien force that mistook the time capsule's footage as a declaration of war and are now challenging Earth to a best-of-three battle using technological recreations of the championship's games, claiming they have won the first match. The duo inform Cooper of a coordinated aim at India, but he dismisses their concerns.
After the aliens win the second match by demolishing the Taj Mahal as Arkanoid, Brenner and Ludlow train Navy SEALs to play the games while Violet develops effective rayguns. Calling themselves the "Arcaders", the group visits London, where the aliens attack Hyde Park as Centipede before being repelled by Brenner and Ludlow. The Arcaders recruit a convicted Eddie to assist in New York City, where they must battle a giant Pac-Man in Mini Coopers representing the ghosts. After overcoming the task, the Arcaders receive Q*bert as a trophy. During a celebration at the White House however, the aliens announce that one of them has cheated, meaning Earth forfeits the challenge. Before being abducted by the aliens, Violet's son Matty discovers Eddie cheated during the Pac-Man attack using a code written on his glasses, which was previously used in the championship.
The aliens attack Washington, D.C. with an army of video game characters. With Cooper and a repentant Eddie's help, the Arcaders fight through the onslaught while Ludlow persuades Lady Lisa, a video game character whom he has a crush on, to side with them. Brenner, Violet, Cooper and Q*bert are summoned to the aliens' mother ship for a final chance to save Earth by facing their leader as Donkey Kong. The group is placed on the game's starting level, with Donkey Kong and the captives at the top level. Struggling against the obstacles, Brenner loses hope until Matty reveals Eddie's cheating. Realizing he actually is the world's best Donkey Kong player, Brenner regains his spirit and defeats Donkey Kong, resulting in the aliens' forces, including Lisa, being neutralized.
The Arcaders are hailed as heroes as Cooper negotiates a peace agreement with the aliens. Eddie apologizes to Brenner for cheating and acknowledges him as the best Donkey Kong player. Seeing Ludlow devastated over Lisa's termination, Q*bert cheers him up by shapeshifting into her. Brenner and Violet begin a relationship while Eddie meets Serena Williams and Martha Stewart. The aliens end their invasion and return to their home planet. One year later, a now-married Ludlow and Lisa have Q*bert-like children.
Cast
Adam Sandler as Sam Brenner, a former arcade video game champion, Cooper's childhood friend and the leader of the Arcaders Anthony Ippolito additionally portrayed the character's younger self in the film's prologue. Kevin James as Will "Chewie" Cooper, the disliked President of the United States, Brenner's childhood friend and a member of the Arcaders Jared Riley additionally portrayed the character's younger self in the film's prologue. Michelle Monaghan as Lieutenant Colonel Violet van Patten, a divorced unique weapons developer and specialist for the military and a member of the Arcaders Peter Dinklage as Eddie "The Fireblaster" Plant, Sam's former childhood rival and a member of the Arcaders. The character was loosely inspired by Billy Mitchell, an arcade champion who became famous in the 1980s and 1990s for setting high scoring records in Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, before later being accused of cheating. Andrew Bambridge additionally portrayed Eddie's younger self in the film's prologue. Josh Gad as Ludlow "The Wonder Kid" Lamonsoff, a conspiracy theory-obsessed genius with poor social skills and a member of the Arcaders Jacob Shinder additionally portrayed the character's younger self in the film's prologue. Brian Cox as Admiral James Porter, a military heavyweight of the United States Navy Sean Bean as Corporal Hill of the British Armed Forces Jane Krakowski as Jane Cooper, the First Lady of the United States and Cooper's wife Affion Crockett as Sergeant Dylan Cohan, a soldier present during the Guam attack Ashley Benson as Lady Lisa, the glamorous protagonist of the fictional arcade video game Dojo Quest Matt Lintz as Matty van Patten, Violet's son Lainie Kazan as Mickey Lamonsoff, Ludlow's grandmother
Denis Akiyama portrays Tōru Iwatani, the creator of the Pac-Man franchise whose hand gets bitten off by his own creation while attempting to console him, while the real Iwatani has a cameo appearance as a repairman at the amusement arcade that the Arcaders used to visit. Fiona Shaw portrays the prime minister of the United Kingdom, Dan Aykroyd portrays the master of ceremonies of the video game championship in the film's prologue and Matt Frewer returns as his Max Headroom character. Additional character voices are provided by Billy West and Holly Beavon; the former provided the vocal effects of Dojo Quests primary enemies that attack a school bus during the film's climax and the latter provided the dubbed voice of Madonna in the aliens' first message.
Production Development
In 2010, it was announced that Adam Sandler had bought the film rights to French filmmaker Patrick Jean's video game-themed short film, Pixels, via his Happy Madison Productions company, and hired Tim Herlihy to write the script, a draft Herlihy had said everybody at the studio "hated". Herlihy and Sandler eventually came up with the concept of having Kevin James star in the film as the president of the United States and incorporated this element in the script. In July 2012, Timothy Dowling and Matthew Fogel was hired to rewrite Herlihy's screenplay, with Seth Gordon being attached as both an executive producer and a possible candidate to direct the film.
Chris Columbus entered talks to direct the film in May 2013. Columbus explained that he first met Sandler to discuss a possible remake of the South Korean film Hello Ghost, and as Columbus left the meeting, Sandler handed him the script for Pixels. The script deeply affected Columbus, who considered it "one of the most original ideas I had seen since the Amblin days" and a good opportunity to harken back to the 1980s comedy films he worked on. Characters from classic arcade games such as Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Frogger, Galaga and Donkey Kong, among several others, were licensed for use in Pixels from video game companies like Atari, Taito, Konami, Bandai Namco Games and Nintendo. Q*bert was coincidentally already owned by Sony Pictures, as Columbia Pictures owned Gottlieb while they developed the original game.
There were originally plans to include a scene in which the Great Wall of China is attacked by the aliens, but the concept was removed from the script in hopes of improving the film's chances in the Chinese market. Nintendo also allowed the filmmakers to feature a cameo appearance of Mario in his Donkey Kong incarnation, though his Super Mario Bros. incarnation was intended to appear in a post-credits scene where an alien resembling him is revealed to have survived at the Washington Monument. Noting the filmmakers could not make the scene work, Columbus decided to have the scene excised from the final film.
Pre-production On February 26, 2014, it was announced that Sandler would play the lead role in the film, while James and Josh Gad were in early talks to join the cast. On March 28, Peter Dinklage was in final talks to join the film, playing the fourth and final male lead. Jennifer Aniston was originally considered for the female lead, but declined due to scheduling conflicts. On April 4, Michelle Monaghan joined the film to star as the female lead instead. On June 11, Brian Cox joined the cast as military heavyweight Admiral Porter. The part of "Lady Lisa", the glamorous protagonist of the fictional arcade game Dojo Quest, was offered to Elisha Cuthbert, but she turned down the role, which went to Ashley Benson. On July 9, Jane Krakowski joined the cast as the First Lady of the United States.
Filming
Pixels was greenlit on a production budget of $135 million, but Doug Belgrad negotiated it down to $110 million. On March 25, 2014, the Ontario Media Development Corporation confirmed the film would be shot in Toronto from May 28 to September 9 at Pinewood Toronto Studios.
Principal photography commenced in Toronto on June 2, 2014, using downtown streets decorated to resemble New York City. Certain sequences such as the Pac-Man chase happened at night, and the filmmakers would often close the streets off from traffic at 7:00 PM and redecorate them to resemble New York until it was dark enough, with filming taking place overnight. On July 29, filming took place outside Markham, Ontario. Filming also took place in the Rouge Park area, and extras were dressing in costume at Markham's Rouge Valley Mennonite Church. On August 4, Gad, Dinklage and Benson were spotted in Toronto filming scenes for the film on Bay Street, which was transformed into a city block in Washington, D.C., and littered with wrecked vehicles and giant holes in the pavement. The Ontario Government Buildings was doubled to transform into a federal office building in Washington. The actors were seen aiming at aliens, which were added later with computer-generated imagery (CGI). On August 26, filming took place in Cobourg. Filming was completed in three months, with twelve hours of shooting each day.
Visual effects and post-production