Back in April, a short made a splash on the Internet and became a viral sensation. Pixels, from French filmmaker Patrick Jean, is a short that features 1980s video game characters attacking New York City.
Now that two and a half minute short is heading to a movie theater near you.
Teaming up with Adam Sandler and his production banner Happy Madison, Jean is developing a big-screen version. Happy Madison has a first-look deal with Columbia, so the company is in talks with the studio to set up the project.
No writer has been hired, but Heat Vision says the plan is to have it be a Ghostbusters-style action comedy in which characters come out of a video game to wreak havoc.
Sound off: Director Edgar Wright loves the short, and he would do the material well, but if Happy Madison is invovled, I suspect Peter Segal (The Longest Yard), Dennis Dugan (I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry), or Frank Coraci (Click). The short is fun, but I don’t know how well it will translate to screen. Now if Columbia does something like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and have pixel characters outside the realm of Tetris, Space Invaders, Frogger and Pac-Man, well then the possibilities are endless. What do you guys think?