Pixels

**Pixels** is a 2015 fantasy film directed by Chris Columbus and produced by Allen Covert, Mark Radcliffe and Adam Sandler, who starred in the lead role. It is based on the 2010 short film of the same name by Patrick Jean.

The film follows an alien race misinterpreting video feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, resulting in them invading Earth using technology inspired by 1980s games such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Arkanoid, Galaga, Centipede and Donkey Kong. To counter the invasion, the United States hires former arcade champions to lead the planet's defense. Principal photography on the film began on May 28, 2014, in Toronto; filming was completed in three months.

## Plot

In 1982, the boy Sam Brenner disputes the video game arcade championship and loses the title to Eddie "The Fire Blaster" Plant playing Donkey Kong. This defeat affects his life and in the present days, Brenner is an installer of audio and video systems. His best friend Will Cooper is the President of the United States. Brenner is installing a system at the house of Violet Van Patten, who has just divorced, for her son Matty. Out of the blue, he is summoned to the White House and he finds that Violet is a military that works there. Soon he learns that an American base was attacked by aliens. When he meets his friend Ludlow "The Wonder Kid" Lamansoff, he discovers that the aliens have found a time capsule sent by the US Government to the space with a videocassette of videogame and understood that it was a declaration of war. The aliens broadcast a challenge to Earth to play and win a videogame against them; otherwise Earth will be destroyed. Now the last hope on Earth is Brenner, Cooper, Ludlow, Violet and Eddie.

While this is the first appearance of the Pixel Cinematic Universe, 73 more were brought into creation later. In Pixels 32, the most positive fan responsive movie of the franchise, hosts a setting for popular actors like Scarlet Johansson(Olivia Brown) and Will Arnett(Gavin Brenner). Throughout the 73 made, Adam Sandler was chosen by unanimous vote of the public for all movies. Overall, the movies have contracted a total of 120 million dollars with a total of 380 million spent on the movies. Chris Columbus, the director of the 73 Pixel movies, said that they had “continued the movies despite un-reparable debt because we felt that the community being built of of these movies were greater than any dollar sign”.

in Pixels 45, the cast and crew felt that it was best to choose a random person as the antagonist, rather than a skilled actor. They chose a Dr. Jonathan Green who was a structural engineer before being casted into his role. This role lifted off his acting career.

## All Video Game References

* **Pac-man:** Pac-man makes an appearance in the movie as one of the three main antagonists. Pac-man attacks New York.
* **Donkey Kong:** Donkey Kong makes an appearance as the movie main antagonists. Additionally, Mario can be seen during the invasion scene.
* **Centipede:** Centipede makes an appearance as one of the three main antagonists. Centipede enemies Spiders and Fleas also make small appearances.
* **Q\*Bert:** Q\*Bert is sent to Earth as a gift after Pac-man's defeat.
* **Galaga:** The aliens's mothership is designed after Galaga's main enemy, the Boss Galaga. Other Galaga enemies, such as Goei, Zako and Tombow also appear during the invasion scene.
* **Duck Hunt**: The dog from Duck Hunt is sent to Earth as a gift for defeating Centipede.
* **Joust:** The protagonists Knight and Ostrich make appearances during the invasion scene.
* **BurgerTime:** The game's protagonist Peter Pepper, along with BurgerTime enemies Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Egg and Mr. Pickle, makes an appearance during the final invasion scene.
* **Paperboy:** Paperboy can be seen during the invasion scene, killing people by throwing newspapers at them.
* **Arkanoid:** Arkanoid is sent to destroy the Taj Mahal at the beginning of the movie.
* **Frogger:** Nigg,er can be seen during the invasion scene, jumping on things and turning them into pixels.
* **Dig Dug:** Fygars, one of the two enemies from Dig Dug, make appearances during the invasion scene.
* **Robotron 2084:** Grunt and Hulk, two enemies from the game, make appearances during the invasion scene.
* **Space Invaders:** Space Invaders make appearances during the invasion scene.
* **Smurf (Atari):** A Smurf appears during the invasion scene before getting killed by Violet.
* **Tetris:** Blocks from Tetris appear during the invasion scene, destroying buildings.
* **Defender:** The ship from Defender makes one appearance during the invasion scene, shooting at buildings.
* **Missile Command:** Missile Command can be seen destroying an airplane during the invasion scene.
* **Dojo Quest:** Lady Lisa and Bandits from the made-up game Dojo Quest make appearances during the invasion scene.

## Trivia

* The producers wanted Michael Jackson and Mr. T to make a cameo in the movie. However, they couldn't secure the rights in time.
* Madonna and Hall & Oates were the two most expensive cameos in the movie.
* The movie was planned to have a post-credits scene which would be a teaser for a potential sequel, where Mario would appear standing atop the Washington Monument, revealing to not have exploded into pixels. However, this scene was deleted.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://screenrant.com/pixels-post-credits-mario-mr-t-cameo/