Arcade (film)

Last updated
Arcade
Arcade poster.jpg
Directed by Albert Pyun
Screenplay by David S. Goyer
Story by Charles Band
Produced byCathy Gesualdo
Starring Megan Ward
Peter Billingsley
John de Lancie
Sharon Farrell
Seth Green
A. J. Langer
Bryan Dattilo
CinematographyGeorge Mooradian
Edited byMiles Wynton
Music by Alan Howarth
Tony Riparetti
Distributed by Full Moon Entertainment
Paramount Pictures
Release dates
  • July 20, 1993 (1993-07-20)(Germany)
  • March 30, 1994 (1994-03-30)(U.S.)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Arcade is a 1993 B-movie science fiction film directed by Albert Pyun, written by David S. Goyer and produced by Full Moon Entertainment. It stars Megan Ward, Peter Billingsley, John de Lancie, Sharon Farrell, Seth Green, A. J. Langer, and Bryan Dattilo.

Contents

Plot

Alex Manning (Megan Ward) is a troubled suburban teenager. Her mother committed suicide and the school counselor feels that she has not dealt with her feelings properly. Manning and her friends decide to visit the local video arcade known as "Dante's Inferno" where a new virtual reality arcade game called Arcade is being test marketed by a computer company CEO, Difford, who is more than willing to hand out free samples of the home console version and hype up the game as if his job is depending on it, and it is.

However, it soon becomes clear that the teenagers who play the game and lose are being imprisoned inside the virtual reality world by the central villain: Arcade. It would seem that Arcade was once a little boy who was beaten to death by his mother, and the computer company felt it would be a good idea to use some of the boy's brain cells in order to make the game's villain more realistic. Instead, it made the game deadly. The game's programmer knew there would be a problem with this, and even tried, but failed, to convince the computer company, Vertigo/Tronics, to halt the game's release because of the company's unorthodox decision to use human brain cells in the game's development.

Nick and Alex enlist the help of the game's programmer and head to the video arcade for a final showdown with Arcade and his deadly virtual world. While Alex is able to release her friends from a virtual prison, she also ended up freeing the evil little boy, who taunts Alex in the final moments of the film.

In the original CGI version, however, the film ends on a somewhat happier note, with Alex, her friends, and Albert (the programmer) simply walking away from Dante's Inferno, with the donor's soul seemingly laid to rest.

Cast

ActorRole
Megan Ward Alex Manning
Peter Billingsley Nick
John de Lancie Difford
Sharon Farrell Alex's Mom
Seth Green Stilts
A.J. Langer Laurie
Bryan Dattilo Greg
Brandon RaneBenz
Sean BagleyLab Assistant
B.J. BarieDeLoache
Humberto OrtizBoy
Norbert Weisser Albert
Don Stark Finster
Dorothy DellsMrs. Weaver
Todd StarksBurt Manning
Alexandria ByrneKid at Arcade Parlour

Production

The film features heavy use of CGI, which was fully redone after The Walt Disney Company named Full Moon in a potential lawsuit. The Sky Cycles in this film resembled the light cycles from Disney's Tron . The VideoZone video magazine (a staple of Full Moon films during the 1990s) as well as some trailers showed footage from the original version of the film. As a rarity, the VideoZone featured on the Full Moon Classics DVD release of the film contains no footage of the released film's CGI, but only of the original film's version.

Despite the change in CGI, the original CGI version did manage to find a release in some places outside of North America, such as Argentina, Germany, Poland and Italy. [1] [ unreliable source? ]

See also

Related Research Articles

Modern animation of the United States from the late 1980s to the late 1990s is referred to as the renaissance age of American animation. During this period, many large American entertainment companies reformed and reinvigorated their animation departments, following a dark age during the 1960s to mid 1980s. During this time the United States had a profound effect on animation worldwide.

<i>Missile Command</i> Atari tower defense arcade video game first released in 1980

Missile Command is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and licensed to Sega for Japanese and European releases. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game Tempest from the same year. Released during the Cold War, the player uses a trackball to defend six cities from intercontinental ballistic missiles by launching anti-ballistic missiles from three bases.

<i>Tron</i> 1982 science fiction film directed by Steven Lisberger

Tron is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer and video game developer who is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer where he interacts with programs in his attempt to escape; it also stars Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, and Barnard Hughes. Tron, along with The Last Starfighter, has the distinction of being one of cinema's earliest films to use extensive computer-generated imagery (CGI).

<i>The Last Starfighter</i> 1984 American space opera film by Nick Castle

The Last Starfighter is a 1984 American space opera film directed by Nick Castle. The film tells the story of Alex Rogan, a teenager recruited by an alien defense force to fight in an interstellar war. It also features Robert Preston, Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Norman Snow, and Kay E. Kuter.

Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information during cutscenes, games that are primarily presented through FMVs are referred to as full-motion video games or interactive movies.

<i>Discs of Tron</i> 1983 video game

Discs of Tron is the second arcade game based on the Disney film Tron (1982). While the first Tron arcade game had several mini-games based on scenes in the movie, Discs of Tron is a single game inspired by Tron's disc-battle sequences and set in an arena similar to the one in the jai alai–style sequence.

<i>Tron 2.0</i> 2003 video game

Tron 2.0 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Monolith Productions. The Microsoft Windows version of the game was released by Buena Vista Interactive on August 26, 2003. The Mac OS X version was released by MacPlay on April 21, 2004. The game is a sequel to Tron, a 1982 science-fiction film, although it's set in an alternate continuity since its events were decanonized by Tron: Legacy.

<i>Tron</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Tron is a coin-operated arcade video game manufactured and distributed by Bally Midway in 1982. The game consists of four subgames inspired by the events of the Walt Disney Productions motion picture Tron released earlier in the summer. The lead programmer was Bill Adams. The music programmer was Earl Vickers.

Dick Tracy (video game) Video game

Dick Tracy appeared in a number of video games released as tie-ins for the motion picture:

<i>Grandmas Boy</i> (2006 film) 2006 film directed by Nicholaus Goossen

Grandma's Boy is a 2006 American stoner comedy film directed by Nicholaus Goossen, written by Barry Wernick, Allen Covert and Nick Swardson, and starring Linda Cardellini, Allen Covert, Peter Dante, Shirley Jones, Shirley Knight, Joel David Moore, Kevin Nealon, Doris Roberts, and Nick Swardson. The film features a video game tester who is forced to move in with his grandmother after being evicted from his home while falling for a woman who was sent to oversee the production of his video game company's newest video game.

Video game culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed by video gamers. As video games have exponentially increased in popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture. Video game culture has also evolved with Internet culture and the increasing popularity of mobile games. Many people who play video games identify as gamers, which can mean anything from someone who enjoys games to someone passionate about it. As video games become more social with multiplayer and online capability, gamers find themselves in growing social networks. Playing video games can both be entertainment as well as competition, as the trend known as electronic sports has become more widely accepted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strawberry Shortcake</span> Cartoon character

Strawberry Shortcake is a cartoon character used in greeting cards published by American Greetings. The line was later expanded to include dolls, posters, and other products featuring the character and an extended cast of friends and pets. In addition, the franchise has spawned television specials, animated television series and films. The franchise is currently owned by the Canadian children's television company WildBrain and American brand management company, Iconix Brand Group through the holding company Shortcake IP Holdings LLC.

<i>Tron: Legacy</i> 2010 science fiction action movie by Walt Disney Pictures

Tron: Legacy is a 2010 American science fiction action film directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, from a story by Horowitz, Kitsis, Brian Klugman, and Lee Sternthal. It serves as a sequel to Tron (1982), whose director Steven Lisberger returned to produce. The cast includes Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner reprising their roles as Kevin Flynn and Alan Bradley, respectively, as well as Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Michael Sheen. The story follows Flynn's adult son Sam, who responds to a message from his long-lost father and is transported into a virtual reality called "the Grid," where Sam, his father, and the algorithm Quorra must stop the malevolent program Clu from invading the real world.

Tron is an American science fiction media franchise created by Steven Lisberger, which began with the eponymous 1982 film. The original film portrays Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a genius computer programmer and video game developer who becomes transported inside a digital virtual reality known as "The Grid", where he interacts with programs in his quest to escape.

<i>Tron</i> (soundtrack) 1982 soundtrack album by Wendy Carlos and Journey

Tron: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album for the 1982 film of the same name, composed by Wendy Carlos with two additional musical tracks which were provided by the band Journey. The album was released on July 9, 1982, the day of release of the film.

The history of computer animation began as early as the 1940s and 1950s, when people began to experiment with computer graphics – most notably by John Whitney. It was only by the early 1960s when digital computers had become widely established, that new avenues for innovative computer graphics blossomed. Initially, uses were mainly for scientific, engineering and other research purposes, but artistic experimentation began to make its appearance by the mid-1960s – most notably by Dr Thomas Calvert. By the mid-1970s, many such efforts were beginning to enter into public media. Much computer graphics at this time involved 2-dimensional imagery, though increasingly as computer power improved, efforts to achieve 3-dimensional realism became the emphasis. By the late 1980s, photo-realistic 3D was beginning to appear in film movies, and by mid-1990s had developed to the point where 3D animation could be used for entire feature film production.

<i>Wreck-It Ralph</i> 2012 animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios

Wreck-It Ralph is a 2012 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 52nd Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Rich Moore, and produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay written by Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee, and a story by Moore, Johnston, and Jim Reardon. John Lasseter served as the film’s executive producer. The film stars the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch, and tells the story of the eponymous arcade game villain who rebels against his "bad-guy" role and dreams of becoming a hero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M Network</span> Video game division of Mattel

M Network was a video game division of Mattel that, in the 1980s, produced games in cartridge format for the Atari 2600 video game system.

Virtual reality in fiction describes fictional representations of the technological concept of virtual reality.

References

  1. Featherston, Ryan W. (2014-07-30). "Houston on the Half Shell: Some Quick Thoughts on Arcade (1993) - The Version You've Never Seen!". Houston on the Half Shell. Retrieved 2021-06-09.