What do you get when you bring together games from the 80s and some of the best comic actors of all time on the big screen? Total kick-ass rib-tickling annihilation! Sony Pictures 80s arcade action comedy Pixels made its way onto Earth through a teaser trailer released on YouTube today.
The film stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage and Brian Cox and is directed by Chris Columbus, from a script by Tim Dowling and Tim Herlihy. The film is based on the award-winning short film by Patrick Jean.
When aliens misinterpret video-feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth using the games as models for their various assaults. President William Cooper (Kevin James) calls upon his childhood best friend, former 1980s video game champion Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), who is now a home theater installer and had a previous relationship with William’s wife (Jane Krakowski) to lead a team of old-school arcaders (Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad) to save the planet from the menacing aliens featuring popular video game characters such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and many others.
Sandler (Happy Madison) and Columbus (1492 Films) are producing the movie with Mark Radcliffe and Allen Covert, while executive producers are Barry Bernardi, Michael Barnathan, Jack Giarraputo, Heather Parry, Steve Koren, Benjamin Darras, Johnny Alves, Matias Boucard, Seth Gordon, Ben Waisbren, Herlihy and Jean.
The premise for Pixels is that NASA sent a time capsule into space in 1982 containing a detailed look at pop culture at the time, but aliens misinterpreted the message as an act of war.
To counter what they thought was an attack, the aliens send huge versions of the video game characters found in the capsule to destroy the Earth, and the only hope for humanity is a group of former professional arcade gamers.
The trailer also has – perhaps the best scene – a cameo by Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani, who tries to get his creation to stop attacking, only to get attacked by the huge yellow character.
After watching the trailer, it’s certain that most old-time gamers will relive their geeky video game-playing days. Pixels lands in theaters in the US on 24 July, followed by an international release that includes India and Australia on 30 July and the UK on 12 August.