Hooba noobie? A new movie based on ‘The Sims’, that’s “what’s up” (Simlish, FYI).
Rumours of a movie based on the hugely popular simulation game franchise, which first launched in 2000, began circulating in March after it was announced that Margot Robbie’s production company LuckyChap Entertainment would be adapting it for the big screen following the massive success of Barbie.
Electronic Arts (EA), the gaming company behind ‘The Sims’, has now confirmed the involvement of Robbie’s production company, along with its collaboration with Amazon MGM Studios on the film.
Kate Herron, who directed and produced the first season of Disney+’s TV series ‘Loki’ along with episodes of Netflix’s ‘Sex Education’, is also attached to the project, while British author Briony Redman will co-write the film, according to EA. Herron and Redman have previously worked together on the most recent series of ‘Doctor Who‘.
For avid Simmers, this has been a long time coming.
The game, which allows players to control animated humans known as Sims, crafting storylines, building homes and cultivating relationships, has built a massive cult following and active community over the last twenty-four years.
Currently in its fourth version, there are regular updates and releases of expansion packs that feature everything from university to knitting to the ability to become vampires, werewolves and mermaids.
Whispers of a film adaptation actually first began back in 2007, with 20th Century Studios (then 20th Century Fox) acquiring the rights. A script was written by Brian Lynch, who went on to do some of the past decade’s biggest animated movies, including Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru.
In an interview with The Guardian, Lynch said it was due to be a teen comedy inspired by the likes of Weird Science and Bruce Almighty: “A kid realises everything he does in his Sims game happens in his town the next day. He creates the life he always wanted. It gets out of control”.
It sounded so promising! But unfortunately the project fell through due to a lack of funding, stuck in development purgatory indefinitely.
Robbie’s project is unlikely to suffer the same fate thanks to her proven success with Barbie, which made $1.4 (€1.2) billion at the box office, showing it is indeed possible to adapt products with an original and creative vision that brings in the big bucks.
Sticking with this theme, LuckyChap is also attached to a film adaptation of the board game Monopoly.
In an interview with Variety, Robbie said of of her company’s creative decisions: “Why can’t it be another big, original, bold idea where we get an amazing filmmaker, a big budget to play with, and the trust of a huge conglomerate behind them to go and really play? I want to do that.”
While most Simmers are excited at the prospect of getting a movie – and have been campaigning for it all to be in Simlish with subtitles – others have had their reservations about what exactly it might look like due to players creating their own storylines, and claimed it as a cynical cash grab by EA.
To be fair, The Sims community aren’t best pleased with EA in general right now, following the recent announcement that there will be no ‘The Sims 5’ game.
“[The movie] is very much rooted in ‘The Sims’ universe, and what we want is to have a truly authentic Sims experience brought to a theatrical release,” Kate Gorman, EA’s vice president and general manager of The Sims franchise, told Variety.
Details remain thin on the ground, with more updates promised for 2025, when the game celebrates its 25th anniversary.
In the meantime, we have some proposals…
Make it horror!
Whether they want to admit it or not, something evil takes over most people that play ‘The Sims’. One minute you’re happily building a family and adorning bedside tables with hula girl lamps, the next you’re purposefully placing rugs next to fireplaces and removing all doors or – the classic – getting your Sims to swim then taking away all exits, watching as their plumbobs (a crystal that shows you the mood of your characters) slowly turn red until the grim reaper arrives while maniacally laughing. These addictive elements of morbid fascination when playing, along with some occasionally very freaky in-game glitches, would make perfect fodder for a horror movie.
Perhaps it could be a new instalment to Final Destination, where the characters realise they’ve been in a simulation game the entire time, any premonitions a reality within the game that just rebooted while the controller plans an even sicker way to kill them.
Or maybe it’s like 2003’s Open Water, but instead of the main characters trying to escape being eaten by sharks the entire time, they’re just stuck in a ladder-less pool with no ability to climb out, desperately trying to figure out a way to survive while pondering the existentialisms of a virtual existence and the grilled cheese sandwiches in the fridge.
And of course, if they wanted to go really dark with it, they could look to the unofficial mod-created WickedWhims expansion pack for The Sims, which is known for its especially, let’s say, crude and gruesome graphics.
The missing case of Bella Goth
One of the most famous bits of lore in ‘The Sims’ is the case of the red dress-donning Bella Goth going missing. A pre-made and playable character that has been in the franchise since the very beginning, she was married to Mortimer Goth with a daughter called Cassandra, residing in the Pleasantview town. However, by ‘The Sims 2’s’ release in 2004, Bella had gone missing – reportedly abducted by aliens while at riz-riddled Don Lothario’s house… This has led to numerous conspiracies amongst ‘The Sims’ community, with many believing her to be in Strangetown where a UFO can be spotted. There have been entire YouTube video essays and Reddit threads dedicated to the topic, so it’s far too much to get into here – but ripe for exploring in a murder mystery/sci-fi styled film. Maybe Bella was half-alien all along? Maybe she was murdered and the UFO is a government-projected cover-up? WE NEED ANSWERS.
Citizen Motherlode
There are two kinds of ‘The Sims’ players in this world – those that follow the rules and those that cheat. It started with the discovery of ‘Rosebud’ back in the early oughts, which allowed players to instantly gain 1,000 Simoleons (Sim currency). This then evolved into ‘motherlode’ for 50,000 Simoleons – just repeatedly type that out and you’re rich beyond belief.
There are various other cheats too – like being able to teleport Sims from various places (a great source of childhood hilarity when moving blurred naked ones out of the shower) and manipulating their mood.
Now imagine a The Truman Show-style movie plot in which a main character discovers they’re a Sim, but also the cheat codes to their lives, taking over control from the actual human player.
The weird stretchy in-game glitches could even give it some Matrix crossover as they fully embrace the red pill existence and cheat the American Dream, ending in a hug from an especially demented dog.
Thoughts in the comments? And until we find out more, Dag dag.
