The famous video game franchise “The Sims” should soon have a film adaptation. Publisher Electronic Arts announced it on Tuesday. The film should be directed by Kate Herron, known for her work on the series “Loki” and “Sex Education.”
After months of rumors, Electronic Arts confirmed at an investor conference that a movie based on the cult video game is currently in development. The company hopes to replicate the excitement and commercial success of recent adaptations of the Mario and Sonic video games for the big screen, or the HBO series “The Last of Us.”
The publisher will work with Amazon MGM Studios to bring its famous Sims to the big screen. A major challenge for this cult license: since its first opus released in 2000, the game has established itself around the world. The four parts released since then have sold more than 200 million copies. Electronic Arts is also preparing a multiplayer version.
By the producer of “Barbie”
The film is to be directed and co-written by Kate Herron, a filmmaker known for Marvel series “Loki” (Disney+) and “Sex Education” (Netflix). And it will be produced by actress Margot Robbie’s company, LuckyChap, which is behind the 2023 adaptation of “Barbie.”
“We wanted the right partners,” Electronic Arts executive Kate Gorman told Variety magazine, stating the goal of having “a similar impact to the Barbie movie.”
A universe of total freedom
Described by their creator as a “virtual dollhouse”, the games in the “Sims” franchise generally have no specific objectives or plot. Several generations of players have seized this space of freedom, without taboos and often ahead of its time: the first game already allowed homosexual relationships, and since the second, a man’s body can give birth.
Details about the film are scarce and no release date has been set. But the feature will be “very much rooted” in the games’ universe and will feature many elements of “The Sims” story, Gorman said.
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