New Pixels Promo Arrives Online

What would you do if aliens decided to attack the world using ‘80s video-game staples turned into very real threats? You’d turn to Adam Sandler, of course! At least, that’s the thinking in the new trailer for Pixels.

Spawned from Patrick Jean’s inventive short{ =nofollow}, Pixels posits what happens when wrong-headed extra-terrestrials interpret examples of video games included in a space probe as a declaration of war. With creations such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Centipede threatening the globe, an unusual countermeasure is suggested. US President Will Cooper (Kevin James) tracks down old friend and ‘80s video game champ Sam Brenner (Sandler) so he can put together a team of old-school arcade masters including Josh Gad’s Ludlow Lamonsoff and Peter Dinklage’s Billy Mitchell-styled Eddie Plant to defeat the techno-menace.

Together, they’ll utilise interesting tweaks on game tropes (such as driving Mini Coopers named for the ghosts in Pac-Man to take down, well, Pac-Man) and eventually take the fight to the aliens. Only one side can find the kill screen. Here’s hoping it’s us...

With director Chris Columbus aboard to marshal the spectacle from a script by Sandler plus Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling, Pixels also stars Michelle Monaghan, Jane Krakowski, Brian Cox and Sean Bean. The film will land in UK cinemas on August 12.