Pixels (2015 film)

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Pixels
PixelsOfficialPoster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Chris Columbus
Produced by Adam Sandler
Chris Columbus
Allen Covert
Mark Radcliffe
Michael Barnathan
Screenplay by Tim Herlihy
Timothy Dowling
Story by Tim Herlihy
Based on Pixels 
by Patrick Jean
Starring Adam Sandler
Kevin James
Michelle Monaghan
Peter Dinklage
Josh Gad
Brian Cox
Ashley Benson
Jane Krakowski
Music by Henry Jackman
Cinematography Amir Mokri
Edited by Hughes Winborne
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • July 24, 2015 (2015-07-24) (United States)
Running time
 105 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $88 million[2]
Box office $4.8 million[3][4]

Pixels is a 2015 American science fiction comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures, 1492 Pictures and Happy Madison Productions. The film was directed by Chris Columbus, based on a screenplay written by Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling and a screen story penned by Tim Herlihy, and based on French director Patrick Jean's 2010 short film of the same name.[5] The film stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Monaghan, Brian Cox, Ashley Benson, and Jane Krakowski.

Principal photography on the film began on June 2, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The film was released in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on July 24, 2015. The film was panned by critics and underperformed at the box office.

Plot

In 1982 in the hopes of establishing peaceful communication with extraterrestrial life, NASA launches a time capsule into outer space containing images and footage of Earth life and culture. However, the aliens misinterpret enclosed video-feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war. They attack the Earth using the games as models for their various assaults including Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Space Invaders, Arkanoid and Tetris. Their technology creates voxels that change form and are capable of turning any form of matter into more of itself. President Will Cooper (Kevin James) calls upon his best friend since childhood, former video game professional Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), who is now a home theater installer and had a previous relationship with Cooper's wife (Jane Krakowski). To combat the video game characters, Brenner decides to lead a team of retrogamers Eddie Plant (Peter Dinklage) and Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) to defeat the aliens with technology similar to those used in games.

Cast

Serena Williams and Martha Stewart make cameo appearances as themselves. The real Toru Iwatani appears as a repairman.

Production

Development

On May 12, 2010 it was announced that Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions were in talks to develop a 3D animated feature film based on Patrick Jean's video-game themed short film Pixels.[14] On November 10, 2010 Adam Sandler hired Tim Herlihy to write the film for his studio.[15] On July 16, 2012 studios tapped Tim Dowling to re-write the film, already written by Herlihy, Seth Gordon was attached to exec-produce and to possibly direct the film.[16] On May 30, 2013, director Chris Columbus was in final talks to adapt the internet short film Pixels for Sony Pictures and Sandler's Happy Madison banner.[5] Characters from classic arcade games such as Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Frogger, and Donkey Kong, among several others, have been licensed for use in the film.[17]

Casting

On February 26, 2014, it was announced that Adam Sandler would star a lead role in the film, while Kevin James and Josh Gad were in early talks to join the cast of the film.[6] On March 28, Peter Dinklage was also in final talks to join the film and to play fourth and final male lead.[7] Jennifer Aniston was originally considered for the female lead, but declined due to scheduling conflicts.[18] On April 4, Michelle Monaghan joined the film to star as a female lead.[9] James will play as U.S. president who teams up with Sandler's character a former champion, to save the planet. Gad will play a conspiracy-theory-obsessed genius with really bad social skills, Dinklage will be Sandler's brash former video game-playing nemesis and Monaghan will play a weapons developer for the military and love interest for Sandler.[9] On June 11, Brian Cox joined the cast, he'll play military heavyweight Admiral Porter.[10] On July 1, Ashley Benson was added to the cast of the film to play Lady Lisa, a beautiful warrior from the fictional '80s video game Dojo Quest.[11] On July 9, Jane Krakowski joined the cast of the film to play the First Lady to James' President Cooper.[12]

On October 20, during an interview with Film-News.co.uk, actress Michelle Monaghan said, "Yeah I adore Adam. We had the best time filming Pixels for 12 hours a day for three months straight, Adam Sandler, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage and myself, it's a comedy and those guys just know how to roll; their timing is impeccable."[19]

In a May 2015 interview commemorating Pac-Man's 35th anniversary, former Pac-Man champion and leading expert Billy Mitchell, after whom Dinklage's character is modeled, was asked his opinion about Dinklage's performance. While acknowledging that the character was indeed based on him, Mitchell responded that he thought of Dinklage as a "good guy" and somebody he "could look up to", but also added that he got "picked on it a lot", as people would tell him he "got beat up by a little guy, finally".[20]

Filming

Movie prop for Pixels in downtown Toronto
Prop for NY Subway entrance has no stairs

On March 25, 2014, Ontario Media Development Corporation confirmed that the film would be shot in Toronto from May 28 to September 9 at Pinewood Toronto Studios.[21][22] While principal photography on the film commenced in Toronto, Ontario on June 2, 2014, using downtown streets decorated to resemble New York City.[23] On July 29, the filming was being taken place outside of Markham, Ontario.[24] Filming was also done in Rouge Park area, extras were dressing in costume at Markham's Rouge Valley Mennonite Church.[24] On August 4, actors Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage and Ashley Benson were spotted in Toronto during the 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 pavements.[25] The Ontario Government Buildings was doubled to transform into a federal office building in Washington. Actors were aiming at aliens which could not been seen but will be added later with CGI.[25]

On August 26, 2014, filming took place in Cobourg.[26] The filming was completed in three months, with 12 hours of shooting a day.[19]

Music

The musical score for the movie will be composed by Henry Jackman, who also worked as composer for Wreck-It Ralph. In June 2015, American rapper Waka Flocka Flame released a single entitled "Game On" and featuring Good Charlotte, which will serve as part of the film's soundtrack.[27]

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released on May 15, 2015,[28][29] but on August 12, 2014, the release date was pushed back to July 24, 2015.[30] In the United States and Canada, it was released in Dolby Vision format in Dolby Cinema, which is the first ever for Sony.[31] It is scheduled to be released in China on mid-September with the exact date yet to be announced.[32]

Marketing

The first trailer was released on March 19, 2015 and received 34.3 million global views in 24 hours, breaking Sony's previous record held by The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (22 million views in 2014).[33] The second trailer was released on June 13, 2015.[34] In Brazil, a promotional video was released on July 2, 2015, showing Adam Sandler interacting with Monica and Jimmy Five (from Monica's Gang) and telling Monica the movie's plot, before both are chased by Pac-Man.[35]

Reception

Box office

The film cost $88 million to produce, with an additional $20 million spent on marketing and distribution.[36][37][2]

In the United States and Canada, Pixels opened simultaneously with the teen Paper Towns, the sports Southpaw and the horror The Vatican Tapes, across 3,723 theaters.[3] Box office pundits noted that the film's release date caused it to face competition with the first former film and along with the holdovers Ant-Man and Minions, all of which were projected to earn around $20 million.[37][38] However, some analysts suggested the film could open to as high as $30 million and if it failed to hit $30 million, it could have difficulty being profitable unless it earned a significant audience abroad.[2] It made $1.5 million from its Thursday night showings at 2,776 theaters.[4]

Pixels opened in South Korea on Thursday, July 16, 2015, earning an estimated $3.3 million on its opening weekend, debuting at third place behind Pixar's animated film Inside Out and local film Northern Limit Line.[3][39]

Critical response

Pixels was critically panned. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 20% approval rating, based on 91 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Much like the worst arcade games from the era that inspired it, Pixels has little replay value and is hardly worth a quarter."[40] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 27 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[41]

Peter Travis of Rolling Stone disdained the film, awarding it just one star out of four, calling it "a 3D metaphor for Hollywood's digital assault on our eyes and brains" and deeming it "relentless and exhausting."[42] Chris Suellentrop of video game-focused blog Kotaku was so displeased with the film that he deliberately spoiled the entire plot to dissuade the blog's readers from seeing the film, saying that he "had more fun retelling the plot to [his] wife, who had never heard of the movie, than [he] did sitting through Pixels."[43]

References

  1. ^ "PIXELS (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2015-07-14. 
  2. ^ a b c Brent Lang (July 21, 2015). "Box Office: ‘Pixels,’ ‘Paper Towns’ Jump Into Crowded Summer Field". Variety. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 22, 2015. 
  3. ^ a b c Anthony D'Alessandro (July 20, 2015). "‘Ant-Man’ & ‘Minions’ Smaller In Actuals; ‘Trainwreck’ Starts To Party – Weekend Box Office". Deadline.com. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 21, 2015. 
  4. ^ a b Dave McNarry (July 24, 2015). "Box Office: ‘Paper Towns’ Tops ‘Pixels’ With $2 Million on Thursday Night". Variety. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 24, 2015. 
  5. ^ a b Sneider, Jeff (30 May 2013). "Chris Columbus in Talks to Direct ‘Pixels’ for Sandler and Sony". thewrap.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014. 
  6. ^ a b c d Sneider, Jeff (26 February 2014). "Adam Sandler to Star in Sony’s Big-Budget Video Game Movie ‘Pixels’". thewrap.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014. 
  7. ^ a b "Game of Thrones’ Star Peter Dinklage Joins Cast of Adam Sandler’s ‘Pixels’". variety.com. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2014. 
  8. ^ "New Pixels Promo Arrives Online | Movie News | Empire". Empireonline.com. Retrieved 2015-07-07. 
  9. ^ a b c Kit, Borys (4 April 2014). "Michelle Monaghan Joining Adam Sandler in 'Pixels'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 5 April 2014. 
  10. ^ a b Abramovitch, Seth (June 11, 2014). "Brian Cox Joins Cast of Adam Sandler's 'Pixels'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved July 2, 2014. 
  11. ^ a b Sneider, Jeff (July 1, 2014). "‘Pretty Little Liars’ Star Ashley Benson Joins Adam Sandler in ‘Pixels’". thewrap.com. Retrieved July 2, 2014. 
  12. ^ a b Yamato, Jen (1970-01-01). "‘30 Rock's Jane Krakowski Joins Adam Sandler Sci-Fi Comedy 'Pixels'". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2014-07-10. 
  13. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2120120/fullcredits
  14. ^ Fleming Jr, Mike (12 May 2010). "Sony, Happy Madison Playing With Viral Sensation ‘Pixels’". deadline.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014. 
  15. ^ Kit, Borys (10 November 2010). "Happy Madison Hires Writer for 'Pixels' Feature". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014. 
  16. ^ Sneider, Jeff (16 July 2012). "Tim Dowling to rewrite vidgame-themed ‘Pixels’". variety.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014. 
  17. ^ Graser, Marc (22 July 2014). "Pac-Man, Donkey Kong Among ’80s Video Game Icons to Appear in Adam Sandler’s ‘Pixels’". variety.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014. 
  18. ^ "Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston to Make Beautiful 'Pixels' Together? - The Moviefone Blog". News.moviefone.com. 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2014-08-12. 
  19. ^ a b "Michelle Monaghan: My leading men are magic!". film-news.co.uk. October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014. 
  20. ^ Pixels Pacman - Billy Mitchell Interview. YouTube. May 25, 2015. 
  21. ^ "Listing of productions shooting or about to shoot around Ontario". omdc.on.ca. Retrieved 5 April 2014. 
  22. ^ Vlessing, Etan (25 March 2014). "Sony's Video Game Movie 'Pixels' to Shoot in Toronto". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 5 April 2014. 
  23. ^ Christine (3 June 2014). "Adam Sandler begins filming in ‘Pixels’ in Toronto". onlocationvacations.com. Retrieved 6 June 2014. 
  24. ^ a b Joseph, Simone (July 29, 2014). "Adam Sandler filming movie near Markham". yorkregion.com. Retrieved August 15, 2014. 
  25. ^ a b R. Kennedy, John (August 4, 2014). "PHOTOS: Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage on Toronto set of ‘Pixels’". globalnews.ca. Retrieved August 15, 2014. 
  26. ^ "King Street closed for filming of ‘Pixels’ movie in Cobourg". northumberlandnews.com. August 14, 2014. Retrieved August 15, 2014. 
  27. ^ Clark, Trent. "Waka Flocka Flame & Good Charlotte Go Half On Pixels: The Movie Theme Song". HipHopWired.com. Retrieved 3 June 2015. 
  28. ^ Bahr, Lindsey (July 18, 2014). "Adam Sandler, Josh Gad, and Peter Dinklage battle Pac-Man in 'Pixels'". ew.com. Retrieved July 18, 2014. 
  29. ^ Lee, Ashley (28 April 2014). "Adam Sandler's 'Pixels' Gets July 2015 Release Date". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 6 June 2014. 
  30. ^ "Sony Delays Adam Sandler’s ‘Pixels’, Moves Up Brad Pitt’s ‘Fury’". deadline.com. August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014. 
  31. ^ Carolyn Giardina (July 22, 2015). "'Hunger Games,' 'Pixels,' 'Everest' Among Upcoming Dolby Cinema Titles". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved July 22, 2015. 
  32. ^ Pamela McClintock (July 21, 2015). "'Terminator: Genisys' Gets China Release Date as Blackout Nears End". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved July 22, 2015. 
  33. ^ Dave McNarry (March 19, 2015). "Adam Sandler’s ‘Pixels’ Trailer Gets Record 34 Million Views". Variety. Retrieved March 20, 2015. 
  34. ^ Erik Pederson (March 17, 2015). "‘Pixels’ Trailer: First Look At Adam Sandler Pic Heralds An 8-Bit Invasion". Deadline.com. Retrieved March 20, 2015. 
  35. ^ Aline Bonatto (July 2, 2015). "Adam Sandler se junta à ‘Turma da Mônica’ para divulgar ‘Pixels’". Extra. Retrieved July 2, 2015. 
  36. ^ Pamela McClintock (April 21, 2015). "Summer Box Office: What's Behind Warner Bros.' Risky Move to Release Nine Movies". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved April 21, 2015. 
  37. ^ a b Pamela McClintock (July 21, 2015). "Box-Office Preview: 'Pixels,' 'Paper Towns' Prepare for Battle With 'Ant-Man,' 'Minions'". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved July 22, 2015. 
  38. ^ Anthony D'Alessandro (July 21, 2015). "‘Pixels’, ‘Paper Towns’ & ‘Southpaw’ Vie For A Variety Of Demos – Box Office Preview". Deadline.com. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 22, 2015. 
  39. ^ Lee Hyo-won (July 20, 2015). "South Korea Box Office: 'Inside Out' Rises to Top, 'Pixels' Debuts in Third Spot". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved July 20, 2015. 
  40. ^ "Pixels". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2015-07-24. 
  41. ^ "Pixels". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 24, 2015. 
  42. ^ Peter Travis (July 23, 2015). "Movie Review: Pixels". Rolling Stone. (Jann Wenner). Retrieved July 24, 2015. 
  43. ^ Suellentrop, Chris (24 July 2015). "All These Things Actually Happen In Adam Sandler's Pixels". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved 24 July 2015. 

External links

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