FILM · 2015
Pixels
59 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (59)
- #001
An arcade repairman. The creator of Pac-Man (1980), being British, did not play the game himself because he did not speak English.
- #002
Lamonsoff is a recurring surname in Adam Sandler's films under the Happy Madison label. It is a tribute to Eric Lamonsoff, Sandler's college roommate, who has appeared as a guest actor in Sandler's films.
- #003
Matt Frewer plays an alien version of Max Headroom, the role he made famous in numerous 1980s television productions. This marks Max's first appearance since 2007, when he featured in Channel 4 advertisements promoting the channel's switch to digital broadcasting. Max was always presented as a computer-generated character, but was always portrayed by Frewer in makeup. This film marks the first time Max Headroom is an actual computer-generated character.
- #004
The girl at the lemonade stand is Adam Sandler's daughter.
- #005
Dan Aykroyd is a co-founder and co-owner of Crystal Head Vodka, which the two main characters drink at the bar after the Centipede battle in England.
- #006
Unlike in many of his other films, Sean Bean survives the entire film.
- #007
The female lead's name is Violet Van Patten. This is an Adam Sandler trademark, in which his character's girlfriend's first and/or last name begins with "V": Virginia Venit in Happy Gilmore (1996), Veronica Vaughn in Billy Madison (1995), Vicki Vallencourt in The Waterboy (1998), Valerie Veran in Little Nicky (2000) and Vanessa in Big Daddy (1999).
- #008
Director Chris Columbus said that President Cooper was modeled on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
- #009
According to director Chris Columbus, Eddie Plant is based on several notable video game champions such as Patrick Scott Patterson and Billy Mitchell.
- #010
This film is based on French director Patrick Jean's 2010 short film and is distributed by One More Productions. Patrick Jean's original Pixels (2010) short film can still be found on YouTube.
- #011
At the beginning, the President teaches children at Joseph Knibb Elementary School. In Billy Madison (1995), Billy attends Joseph Knibb High School.
- #012
The film's poster shows Pac-Man's attack on the Golden Gate Bridge in the city of San Francisco, which is not named in the film. All location shooting was done in Toronto.
- #013
The first test footage of Pac-Man's computer-generated animation showed him looking much sleeker, with a much smoother design. In a later stage of production, it was decided that he should appear with much rougher and more visible voxels (3D pixels) to honor the original low-resolution character.
- #014
The Biddy Bandits (the small purple ninjas that attack the bus) and Lady Lisa come from Dojo Quest, a new, retro-style video game created as part of the film.
- #015
Reported to have a budget of over $80 million, this is perhaps unsurprisingly the most expensive film Adam Sandler has starred in. It also has the widest distribution of any film he has starred in, aside from the animated "Hotel Transylvania" films, partly thanks to its appeal to Chinese and Japanese audiences. (The film was co-financed by a Chinese company.)
- #016
This was the last Adam Sandler film to be released in theaters before the premiere of Uncut Gems (2019). Netflix would release his subsequent films.
- #017
All of the Minis have license plates bearing the names of the original ghosts from the Pac-Man arcade game.
- #018
The "Violent Video-Game" played by Matty and Brenner is Naughty Dog's The Last of Us (2013). It is one of the most critically acclaimed games; various critics give it a perfect score.
- #019
Several members of Adam Sandler's family appear in the film: his wife Jackie Sandler as "President's Assistant Jennifer," his nephew Jared Sandler as "White House Junior Aide Jared," his daughter Sadie Sandler as "Lemonade Sadie" (the girl at the lemonade stand at the beginning) and his other daughter Sunny Sandler as "Sweet Scout Girl."
- #020
Jennifer Aniston turned down the role of Violet Van Patten.
- #021
During the final Donkey Kong battle, President/Chewie, played by Kevin James, never jumps over a single barrel. Each time he hides behind a ladder or ducks, and the score he earns is always zero.
- #022
In the film, the games' original CRT monitors were replaced with newer flat-panel LCD-style monitors. This reduced glare and made filming easier. When filming the monitors, if the cameras were not properly synchronized, they would record a moving image with a line running through it.
- #023
Ashley Benson had to undergo martial arts training for the role of Lady Lisa.
- #024
This is composer Henry Jackman's second film related to a video game. The first was Wreck-It Ralph (2012). The third was Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).
- #025
Fiona Shaw appears in this film alongside the characters Max Headroom and Mario (mostly in the background). She also appeared alongside Mario in Super Mario Bros. (1993), directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel. Both were also co-creators and directors of Max Headroom (1985).
- #026
The song playing on the Indian man's cell phone at his proposal is an Indian version of the Spandau Ballet song "True," which appeared in Adam Sandler's The Wedding Singer (1998) and 50 First Dates (2004).
- #027
The games "Battle Zone," "Gravitar," "Star Wars," "Asteroids," "Tempest" and "Space Duel" are shown being played from angles that do not allow the camera to show the game. These are vector-class games and require the use of a special monitor that actually draws the picture rather than scanning an image the way a conventional monitor or television does.
- #028
Lady Lisa never speaks or makes a sound. This is most likely because video game characters of her time could not speak.
- #029
At one point Ludlow claims that the Zapruder film, which covers the assassination of John F. Kennedy, was altered and that in reality "Kennedy shot first." This is a reference to the notorious change to the cantina scene in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), in which Greedo can be seen shooting at Han Solo first, the opposite of what happened in the original version. The phrase "Han shot first" is instantly recognizable among Star Wars fans.
- #030
Technically, the video game characters in the film are made of voxels because they are three-dimensional. However, they were probably named "Pixels" because general audiences are more familiar with that name than with "voxel."
- #031
At the beginning of the film, Sam (Adam Sandler) calls one of the board members "Harry Potter." The first two films of the Harry Potter series were directed by Chris Columbus. Fiona Shaw, who plays the prime minister, also played Petunia Dursley, who hates magic.
- #032
The name of the arcade at the beginning was Electric Dreams, which was also a film about a computer that comes to life.
- #033
When asked what the army is doing in the park, the SAS officer says they are shooting a beer commercial. One of Sean Bean's first roles was in a (non-alcoholic) Barbican Lager commercial.
- #034
Peter Dinklage and Sean Bean appeared in Game of Thrones (2011).
- #035
Adam Sandler uses the same voice he used in Happy Gilmore (1996) to say "Somebody's more important" in the tone of "Somebody's closer."
- #036
Peter Dinklage and Brian Cox played villains in the X-Men film series. Dinklage played Dr. Bolivar Trask in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), and Cox played William Stryker in X2: X-Men United (2003).
- #037
In The Wedding Ringer (2015), Josh Gad says that Pac-Man is his favorite superhero. In this film, he has to fight Pac-Man.
- #038
The Dojo Quest game appears to be housed in a Quantum, Space Duel or Gravitar cabinet when viewed from the side. This is notable because at the time operators would often take an older game and convert it into a newer one in order to keep earning revenue.
- #039
In the Pac-Man series, Eddie Plant says Pac-Man is always faster than the ghosts. He is wrong, because in most cases the ghosts are actually faster in the original arcade game. This may be a hint that Eddie cheated with super speed while playing Pac-Man, which is revealed later in the film.
- #040
The arcade urban legend game Polybius can be seen in the background very briefly during the opening.
- #041
This is director Chris Columbus's first collaboration with Adam Sandler.
- #042
Sony's PlayStation 4 is referenced twice in this film. Once at the beginning, when Brenner has to set up some equipment, and once near the end.
- #043
At the end of the film, after "ONE YEAR LATER" is shown, a baby Q*bert is shown bouncing in a crib. This implies that Ludlow and Lady Lisa (who has actually been transformed into Q*bert) have had a child.
- #044
Josh Gad was born in February 1981, only a year before the video game championship depicted in the opening scene.
- #045
Elisha Cuthbert was considered for the role of Lady Lisa.
- #046
Three different Barclays Premier League football clubs are represented: Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. All three are major rivals.
- #047
Both Adam Sandler and Michelle Monaghan played Cameron Boyce's parents: Sandler played his father in Grown Ups (2010) and its sequel Grown Ups 2 (2013), while Monaghan played his mother in Eagle Eye (2008).
- #048
When Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) shows Brenner (Adam Sandler) the alien message, he shows him a clip from the popular series One Tree Hill (2003), in which Danneel Ackles played the role of Rachel Gatina. Danneel and Josh have been good friends since they appeared together in Mardi Gras: Spring Break (2011).
- #049
Peter Dinklage and Jane Krakowski appeared in the seventh episode of the third season of 30 Rock (2006), titled "Señor Macho Solo".
- #050
Brian Cox and Sean Bean appeared in the Sharpe film series.
- #051
Lainie Kazan (Mickey Lamonsoff) appeared as a major supporting character in Kevin James's (President Will Cooper) sitcom The King of Queens (1998).
- #052
Peter Dinklage first appears shortly after the aliens, dressed as Ricardo Montalban and Hervé Villechaize from the series Fantasy Island (1977), deliver a message to humanity. Dinklage would go on to play Villechaize in the biographical film My Dinner with Hervé (2018).
- #053
The film's premise has no connection to Ghostbusters (1984). However, near the beginning of this film there is a brief cameo by Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd, as a comparison to the 1982 video game competition.
- #054
After Stuart Little (1999), Stuart Little 2 (2002), The Smurfs (2011) and The Smurfs 2 (2013), this is Columbia's sixth live-action/animation hybrid film.
- #055
Sean Bean and Fiona Shaw appeared in Anna Karenina (1997).
- #056
This is Jocelyn Hudon's debut.
- #057
The centipedes' roar apparently uses the roar of the T-Rex from Jurassic Park.
- #058
When President Will Cooper says, "… Eddie Plant, Ludlow Lamonsoff, Sam Brenner and Lieutenant Colonel Violet van Patten are American heroes… World heroes," this is a reference to the 1992 Neo-Geo video game "World Heroes."
- #059
While Adam Sandler starred in The Wedding Singer (1998), his co-star Josh Gad starred in The Wedding Ringer (2015).
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