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Chris Columbus to Direct Live-Action 'Pixels' Feature

Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo will produce the live-action film based on an Internet short by Patrick Jean.

Chris Columbus, the veteran director of Home Alone and the first three two films in the Harry Potter series, is in discussions to direct Columbia’s Pixels, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter.

An adaptation of an Internet short by Patrick Jean depicting 1980s-style video game characters attacking New York City, Pixels is being executive produced by Jean, with Happy Madison’s Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo serving as the film’s producers.

The producers and the studio are aiming to do a Ghostbusters-style action comedy in which characters come out of a video game to wreak havoc in the real world. Tim Herlihy wrote the original draft, which was rewritten by Tim Dowling.

Columbus hasn’t directed a movie since 2010’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, although he’s reportedly been developing numerous projects through his 1492 Pictures banner and recently co-wrote the New York Times best-selling YA novel House of Secrets.

Watch the short, below:

UPDATE: As various readers have pointed out, Chris Columbus actually directed the first two Harry Potter movies, not three. The third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was directed by Alfonso Cuaron.

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.