Bringing great video game classics to the big screen is fashionable and after Pikachu in 2019 and Sonic in 2020, it’s Pac-Man’s turn to have the right to do so.
In 2019 we had the right adaptation Detective Pikachu and in 2020 the slightly more controversial adaptation of Sonic. Well according to The Hollywood Reporter, a retro arcade classic seems headed straight for a big-screen, live-action adaptation. It’s just… Pac-Man. Eh yes.
The Pac-Man legend in the cinema: more Pikachu or more Sonic?
Everything would be produced by the creators of the original games, namely Bandai Namco Entertainment, starting from a script based on an idea by Chuck Williams, producer of the live-action movie Sonic. From the outset one wonders how a game like Pac-Man can be adapted in live-action, it seems to be a riskier bet than Pikachu or even Sonic. Released in 1980, this title quickly became a staple of the arcade and its fans around the world are very numerous. And if, as the saying goes, the crazier the merrier, the more people there are, the greater the risk of disappointment.
This Pac-Man movie will be made by Bandai Namco Entertainment as well as Wayfarer Studios, the studio behind the Disney+ movie Clouds, as well as the My Last Days series. In addition to Chuck Williams, we would find Justin Baldoni, Manu Gargi and Andrew Calof of Wayfarer Studios in production.
Here’s hoping this Pac-Man movie pulls more towards Pikachu than Sonic in terms of quality. For the record, the game takes place in mazes where Pac-Man must eat dumplings while being chased by colorful ghosts as the mazes get harder and harder. Complicated to make a scenario for the cinema with that since all the genius lies in the gameplay.