“The Hollywood rumors are true!” Electronic Arts (EA) formalized in a press release, published on Tuesday, September 17, the film adaptation of its video game license The Simsafter announcing the project during an investor conference. The production, whose release date has not been set, is being carried out in collaboration with Amazon MGM Studios and LuckyChap, the company of actress Margot Robbie, who is behind the film adaptation of the worldwide hit. Barbie.
We still know very little about this feature film, other than that it will be “very well founded” in the world of games and will include many elements of the story of SimsAs Kate Gorman, manager of Electronic Arts, assured the magazine VarietyThe challenge of bringing to the screen this universe whose characters speak an unintelligible language, called “Simlish”, was entrusted to director Kate Herron (Loki, Sex education) and screenwriter Briony Redman (doctor who), who were named executive producers of the film.
Since the first work released in 2000, The Sims is a life simulation video game that requires you to take charge of the daily lives of small characters. It does not set specific goals for players and has no pre-established story. Its universe can be shaped according to the fantasies of the gamer: everything is customizable, from the furniture in the house to the relationships or profession of its avatars. The four main parts totaled more than $5 billion in earnings in 2019, according to Electronic Arts. The latest, The Sims 4 (2014), has sold over 80 million copies, making it the best-selling episode of the franchise.
A space of freedom
Several generations of players have taken over this space of freedom, less “heteronormative” than many video games: the first game already allowed homosexual relationships and, since then, The Sims 2A man’s body can give birth. The game also attracts many. moddersFans who modify the game to suit their taste and integrate unofficial objects or characters.
“We will continue to deepen, improve and modernize The Sims 4 »EA said on September 17. Asked about VarietyKate Gorman assured that these future developments “will not replace previous projects”that they “it will only make them richer”seeming to sweep away all speculation about the announcement of a fifth episode. EA still clarified on this occasion the contours of the still nebulous “Project René”, code name of a new game in the series, which will be a “mobile game with a story”playable in multiplayer.
With this film, EA hopes to repeat the success of the film adaptations of video games. Sonic (2020) or Super Mario (2022). Other recent Hollywood hits inspired by video games also include series, such asArcana (2021), whose season 2 is expected in November on Netflix, The last of us (2023, Prime Video) or Radioactive dust (2024, main video).
However, video game adaptations to the big screen have also often disappointed: the first such experience in Hollywood, Super Mario Bros. (1993), resulted in an unstable film, the object of ridicule by both critics and actors upon its release. – even if it has since acquired cult status. This summer it was the turn of the adaptation of Borderlands by Eli Roth to attract public ire.
