The Sims has been one of the biggest success stories in gaming over the last quarter century, with more than 500 million players trying to understand Simish, learning what WooHoo-ing is and using the classic Rosebud cheat to gain more money. All of that could be coming to a big screen near you, as Electronic Arts has revealed that Amazon MGM Studios is working on a movie adaptation of the games.
Kate Herron (Loki, The Last of Us) will direct the film and co-write the screenplay with Briony Redman (Doctor Who). One of the production companies that’s on board is Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap, which seems appropriate given that EA is looking “to make an impact the size of something like a Barbie movie,” EA vice president and Sims general manager Kate Gorman said. (For the tape, Barbie is the 14th-highest-grossing film of all time.)
EA wants the movie to be an authentic experience for fans, particularly given that many people have “love and nostalgia” for the series. To that end, you can expect a lot of Sims lore and Easter eggs in the film.
“There will be Freezer Bunnies,” Gorman told Variety. “I’m sure a pool without a ladder is somewhere in there, but we haven’t finalized any of those details. But that’s the idea, is to say that it lives within this space. It’s a nod to all of the amazing play and creation and fun that people have had over the last 25 years within The Sims.”
Meanwhile, EA provided updates on The Sims franchise as a whole. The company doesn’t currently plan to release The Sims 5, instead opting to focus on updating The Sims 4 and releasing paid expansions for the 10-year-old game. The publisher is also spinning up a creator program and some players who create custom in-game items will be able to sell them as Creator Kits.
While The Sims 4 will remain the core of the series, EA is looking at expanding the franchise in other ways, including with Project Rene, a cross-platform multiplayer experience that the publisher has been talking up for a couple of years. An invite-only playtest is scheduled for this fall.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-sims-movie-from-amazon-mgm-studios-is-on-the-way-161159048.html?src=rss
