Margot Robbie at The 96th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 10, 2024.Credit/Provider: Nick Agro ©A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.
Preview:
- ‘The Sims’ is in development as a movie.
- ‘Barbie’ star/producer Margot Robbie is backing the project.
- ‘Loki’ Season 1 director Kate Herron will co-write and direct.
Was ‘Barbie’ a one-off sensation in taking a narrative-free product and turning it into a hit movie? We’re about to see that idea tested –– and it helps that one of the most crucial elements of the billion-dollar-plus doll movie is involved.
Yes, Margot Robbie, who in addition to playing Barbie, also produced the movie via her LuckyChap company, and spent several years shepherding it to screens, is involved in an effort to bring long-running game title ‘The Sims’ to life as a movie.
What’s the story of ‘The Sims’?
‘The Sims’ video game. Photo: Electronic Arts.
That’s the issue right now –– ‘The Sims’ famously has no narrative hook from which to hang a story.
Created by Will Wright (and originally conceived as a satire of American consumer culture) and the first game hit shelves in 2000.
A life simulator where you create characters and set them to achieving ambitions (or just going through the mundane motions), it has become hugely popular and evolved via expansion packs and sequels.
Further titles have increased the situations you can put your created characters in, including showbusiness, dating, high school life and even magic and vampires. It has shown remarkable resilience through the years, sparking interest from various subcultures.
Who is making the ‘Sims’ movie?
(L to R) Tom Ackerley and Margot Robbie at the Oscar Nominee Luncheon held in the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton on Monday, February 12, 2024. The 96th Oscars will air on Sunday, March 10, 2024 live on ABC. Credit/Provider: Mike Baker / ©A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.
Robbie and her LuckyChap team (Tom Ackerly, Josey McNamara and Sophia Kerr) are producing the planned movie alongside Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo Entertainment, while games giant Electronic Arts, which has produced the ‘Sims’ titles for years, will also be involved.
But at the creative coalface this time are Kate Herron (who directed ‘Loki’s first season and has since moved on to ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2) and her co-writer, Briony Redman, who will craft the script for Herron to helm.
In addition to their work on this, Herron and Redman recently wrote an episode of the new season of ‘Doctor Who’, which launches in May.
They’ll be the duo who’ll find a way to mesh a story into the ‘Sims’ concept, while all involved will be hoping for the same success as ‘Barbie’.
When will ‘The Sims’ movie be on screens?
‘The Sims’ video game. Photo: Electronic Arts.
‘The Sims’ is at a very early stage right now –– so early, in fact, that it has yet to find a distribution home. The package, according to reporter Jeff Sneider, who broke the news of it, is now being shopped to studios and streamers.
Given how well ‘Barbie’ performed at the box office, with critics and that it even won an Oscar, we’d expect there to be plenty of interest in this one.
Actor/Producer Margot Robbie attends the ‘Barbie’ Press Junket Photo Call at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. Photo by Eric Charbonneau.