P  i  X  e  L  s

[Source: blastr.com] We've seen a lot of enemies over the years, from an exploding giant Stay-Puft marshmallow man on the Upper West Side to an 80-foot mechanical tarantula in the wild, wild west. But of all the odd monsters in cinema, we've never before witnessed evil Pac-Man. Until Pixels. 

Pac-Man, one of the mainstays of my geeky childhood, is now a villain in this upcoming comedy—which will hopefully be as hilarious as the trailer, below, looks. In fact, one of the combatants against the alien overlords is Toru Iwatani (played by Denis Akiyama). You know … the creator of Pac-Man. Talk about knowing your references.

According to IMDB:

[W]hen intergalactic aliens misinterpret video-feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war against them, they attack the Earth, using the games as models for their various assaults. President Will Cooper (Kevin James) has to call on his childhood best friend, '80s video game champion Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), now a home theater installer, to lead a team of old-school arcaders (Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad) to defeat the aliens and save the planet. Joining them is Lt. Col. Violet Van Patten (Michelle Monaghan), a specialist supplying the arcaders with unique weapons to fight the aliens.

With some highly entertaining action, as well as an evil Donkey Kong and Peter Dinklage, this Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/Chamber of Secrets)-directed comedy looks like it could be what we need to keep us occupied until Ready Player One is released. (And since RP1 is still in development, we'll need all the entertainment we can get.)

This isn't the only recent movie to take on '80s arcade nostaglia. Fans can also watch Wreck-It Ralph, Tron: Legacy, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and the fabulous documentary The King of Kong.

Pixels will hit theaters on July 24, 2015.