We’ve entered a brand new era of high-quality video game movies. No longer are fans resigned to crappy movies based on their favorite games and mascots. It only makes sense that the most recognizable video game character ever (sorry Mario!), Pac-Man, get his due on the big screen.
Deadline reports that a new live-action Pac-Man movie is in the works from Bandai Namco Entertainment and Wayfarer Studios. Bandai Namco are the publishers of the long-running Pac-Man franchise, having first introduced the game in 1980 and starting a global phenomenon. Whether in arcades or consoles, players became obsessed with controlling the little yellow orb as it chomps dots along various mazes while avoiding enemy ghosts.
The game was eventually spun off into a pair of animated shows, the awesome 1982 Saturday morning cartoon that I loved as a kid, and the 2013 CG-animated one on Disney XD that sucked.
Pac-Man also featured in a pretty big way in the 2015 Adam Sandler comedy, Pixels, which features Pac biting the hand of his creator, Toru Iwatani. It’s not a great movie, but the video game animations are solid.
This new movie has an original concept by Lightbeam Entertainment’s Chuck Williams, but otherwise there are new further details. It’ll be interesting to see who they find to direct it, and how Pac-Man will be portrayed on screen. Also, will we see others of the Pac-clan, such as Ms. Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, or Super Pac-Man?
