Pixels (2015 film)

Pixels
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChris Columbus
Screenplay by
Story byTim Herlihy
Based onPixels
by Patrick Jean
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAmir Mokri
Edited byHughes Winborne
Music byHenry Jackman
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • July 24, 2015 (2015-07-24) (United States)
Running time
106 minutes[2]
Countries
LanguageEnglish
Budget$88–129 million[4][5]
Box office$244.9 million[5]

Pixels is a 2015 science fiction action comedy film[6] directed by Chris Columbus and written by Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling and based on a story by the former.[5] Loosely adapted from the 2010 short film Pixels by Patrick Jean (who serves as an executive producer on the film), the film stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad and Brian Cox. Combining animated video game characters and visual effects, the film involves an alien force misinterpreting video feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, to which they respond by 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.

Following the success of Patrick Jean's short film Pixels, Adam Sandler pursued a feature adaptation, initially hiring Tim Herlihy to draft the screenplay in 2010. After initial drafts were poorly received, Sandler and Herlihy reworked the concept to feature Kevin James as the U.S. President, a unique twist that led to Tim Dowling’s involvement for further revisions in 2012. Chris Columbus, drawn to the script’s originality and its nostalgic nod to 1980s arcade culture, signed on to direct in 2013. Production began in 2014 with a $110 million budget, filming in Toronto, which was transformed to resemble New York and Washington, D.C. Visual effects were led by Digital Domain and Sony Pictures Imageworks, creating characters out of voxel-based pixels to emulate 1980s game graphics, with CRT-style imperfections.

Pixels was theatrically released in the United States on July 24, 2015, by Columbia Pictures. The film was a critical and commercial failure, grossing $244 million worldwide against a production budget of $88–129 million. It was nominated for the 36th Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture.

  1. ^ a b c d Chang, Justin (July 22, 2015). "Film Review: 'Pixels'". Variety. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  2. ^ "Pixels (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. July 14, 2015. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Pixels (2015)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  4. ^ "2015 Feature Film Study" (PDF). FilmLA. June 15, 2016. p. 6. Archived from the original on July 4, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  5. ^ a b c "Pixels". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference AFI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).