Adam Sandler’s Pixels was a critical disaster despite featuring fun references to Pac-Man, yet the next iteration of the latter could redeem the former when Secret Level hits streaming platforms. Pixels was released in 2015 and attempted to tell an interesting, comedic story about aliens who invaded Earth using the forms of iconic video game characters that were found in a space-bound time capsule. While this concept and Pixels’ cast of characters were promising, the film did not meet expectations. Aside from fun references, including Pixels‘ Pac-Man creator cameo, the film forewent fun nostalgia for over-the-top, annoying humor.

This led Pixels to become a critical failure, with the film currently holding an 18% score from professional reviews logged on Rotten Tomatoes. As one of the few different interpretations involving an iconic game like Pac-Man, many are wondering where the next will come from. One is Amazon Prime’s Secret Level video game anthology series; Intriguingly, the Pac-Man episode of Secret Level has been teased by the show’s creators, promising a weird, maybe even scary redemption of the last interpretation of the iconic character in film and TV.

Secret Level’s Pac-Man Episode Sounds Incredibly Fun (& Weird)

What Could Secret Level Have In Store For Pac-Man?

Speaking exclusively to Screen Rant at New York Comic-Con 2024, the executive producer and supervising director of Secret Level, Dave Wilson, teased the show’s adaptation of Pac-Man. Of course, it is common knowledge that Pac-Man holds little storytelling value as an arcade game, making the anthology episode based on the IP all the more intriguing. However, what was promised by Wilson may not be what many expected:

“You’ve seen Pac-Man, it is weird — and I think in the best way possible… look what Victor and Alfredo, the directors at Headless, did… And I remember when that story reel came in from them…
It was just like, ‘Holy s–t, this is amazing.’ It’s so f—-ng weird. It felt like we were disemboweling people’s childhoods with that episode
… They referenced Mandy. Like, Mandy and Pac-Man don’t seem to mesh well together as a creative touchstone, but it went awesome.”

As evident by Wilson’s comments, it is safe to assume that Secret Level‘s Pac-Man episode will be incredibly different from anything that has come before. The reference to Mandy raises eyebrows given its nature as a psychedelic revenge thriller starring Nicolas Cage. Somehow, the creators at Secret Level have blended that violent weirdness with the latter element of Pac-Man. As a whole, this sounds overly compelling and strange, yet incredibly exciting ahead of Secret Level‘s release.

Secret Level
will be released on December 10, 2024, on Amazon Prime.

Sandler’s Pixels Will No Longer Be The Only “Weird” Pac-Man Adaptation

With Secret Level releasing a Pac-Man adaptation, Pixels will no longer be the only weird interpretation of the iconic franchise. However, the benefit of Secret Level‘s iteration will be that it sounds overly interesting. As alluded to thanks to the exploration of Pixels‘ reviews, the Adam Sandler film failed to capture the iconic nostalgia of the video game in a way that worked. It seems as though Secret Level will do so by going above and beyond what was thought possible from an adaptation of Pac-Man, rather than the more surface-level exploration found in Pixels, hopefully to better critical reception.