Adaptations in films or series of video games are more and more numerous, and very often, they do not live up to the expectations of fans, as evidenced by certain notable industrial accidents (hello Resident Evil from Netflix). A cult license will therefore also soon have the right to its passage on the big screens… and it is not necessarily the first one you might think of.
The producer of Sonic at the helm
According The Hollywood Reporterthe big-screen adaptation of Pac-Man — the arcade classic — will be based on an original idea by Chuck Williams, the producer of the 2020 Sonic movie. It would be a live-action film, already in development and scheduled for release in 2024.
The project comes directly from Bandai Namco Entertainment – the company behind the character created by Tōru Iwatani in 1980 – and Wayfarer Studios, the production company founded by Justin Baldoni and Steve Sarowitz.
A first on the big screen?
If you’re a fan of movies (of any genre, there’s no judgment), you’ll probably remember that the aptly named Pac-Man has appeared on the big screens before. He is one of the main protagonists — if you can call him that — from the movie Pixels by Chris Columbus (Mom, I missed the plane, Harry Potter) released in 2015.
Interesting Party, Pac-Man
is here a brood of evil manipulated by extraterrestrials in order to beat humans during one of the challenges set up and whose stake is the Earth, just that.
The famous ghost-eating yellow ball also had the honors of the small screen through two series. A first broadcast from 1982 to 1983 on ABC and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and a second titled Pac-Man and the Adventures of Ghosts, broadcast from 2013 to 2015 and designed by 41 Entertainment for Disney XD.
If the adaptation into an animated series leaves a lot of room in terms of the scenario and even the fact of placing a huge yellow ball in the center of the plot, that Pac-Man be the hero of his own film seems more complicated – at least On paper. In 2015’s Pixels, the formula worked because of the script, of course, but above all because the character created in 1980 by Tōru Iwatan was simply not the main hero.
It is therefore difficult to know what the studios will concoct for us and with what sauce Pac-Man will be seasoned. After all, a Tetris trilogy has been in the pipeline for years (even if we have no recent news from the project), so if the writers manage to throw something at us with a minimum of mouth on this video game — which does not really lend itself to it — all hopes are allowed for the eater of ghosts. Wait and see as our English-speaking friends would say…
Once again, Mediatonic’s Battle Royale will welcome new skins, the latter coming straight from a flagship license which features a little blue hedgehog. Yes, Fall Guys will see Sonic and his friends arrive! However, it won’t be the first time!
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