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Pac-Man live action movie announced by Bandai Namco

Following in the footsteps of Sonic and Mario, Pac-Man is also jumping to the big screen, but in live action form.

Ozzie Mejia

August 9, 2022 6:15 AM

Sony Pictures

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It's a good time for video game properties being adapted into movies and TV shows. With Sonic the Hedgehog raking in money at the box office and Mario preparing to do the same next year, why shouldn't another of gaming's most recognizable mascots get in on the action? On Monday, Bandai Namco announced that Wayfarer Studios would begin work on a live-action Pac-Man movie.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, there's no target release window for the proposed Pac-Man. Sonic the Hedgehog associate producer Chuck Williams of Lightbeam Entertainment is the man behind the new original story for the upcoming Pac-Man production. Wayfarer Studios will invest $125 million USD to help bring the Bandai Namco mascot's tale to life.

Pac-Man has been the star of several animated shows, most recently 2013's Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, which ran for two seasons on Disney XD. His history on the big screen is much more limited. His movie appearances, live action ones especially, are limited to a cameo appearance in 2015's Pixels. It was no good.

Whether Pac-Man will be a quality outing like the Sonic the Hedgehog movies or a disappointment, like... well... Pixels remains to be seen. We'll be sure to follow this story at Shacknews. For more on pop culture and everything video game adjacent, watch Pop! Goes the Culture every week on the Shacknews Twitch channel.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?