‘Game of Thrones’ Star’s Critically Reviled Sci-Fi Movie Is a Free Streaming Hit

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Peter Dinklage as Fire Blaster Eddie Plant in a scene in Pixels.

Rahul Malhotra is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has been writing for Collider for over two years, and has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal to introduce audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Swing and a miss > measured victory. Also, #JusticeForHan. (He/Him).

Everybody loves Adam Sandler, as evidenced by the wave of support he gets whenever he's up for awards. This year, Sandler is campaigning in earnest for the first time since he was shockingly snubbed for his performance in Uncut Gems half a decade ago. He's up for a Supporting Actor nod for his subtle turn in Noah Baumbach's new movie, Jay Kelly. Whenever this happens, it's as if everybody makes a silent pact to temporarily erase movies like Pixels from their memory. Released in 2015, the sci-fi comedy did fairly well at the box office, but like most mainstream films starring Sandler, earned poor reviews. That said, Pixels recently witnessed a surge in streaming viewership on the free Pluto TV platform.

According to FlixPatrol, it was among the most-watched films on the domestic Pluto TV charts this week, when the leaderboard was topped by Spider-Man: Homecoming. Another Sandler film, 50 First Dates, took the fourth spot. Pixels was directed by Chris Columbus, the hit-maker behind family films such as Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The movie was designed as a homage to '80s arcade video games such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Space Invaders, and followed a bunch of former arcade game champions assigned to defend Earth against an alien force that misinterpreted signals from video games as a declaration of war.

'Pixels' Earned Terrible Reviews

Produced on a reported budget of $110 million, Pixels grossed nearly $250 million at the global box office. The movie also featured Michelle Monaghan, Josh Gad, Kevin James, Brian Cox, and Peter Dinklage, and earned absolutely terrible reviews. It's now sitting at an 18% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, "Much like the worst arcade games from the era that inspired it, Pixels has little replay value and is hardly worth a quarter." Jay Kelly was far more enthusiastically received; the movie is currently sitting at 77% score on RT. Columbus had his own Netflix release last year, the book adaptation The Thursday Murder Club, which opened to mixed reviews and briefly topped the streamer's viewership charts. You can watch Pixels at home, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.