Have you heard of ‘The Sims Movie’? It’s been a long time since we last heard any new information on what it was going to be about. According to IMDB, it is suppose to be released sometime in 2009. Well, in an interview with producer John Davis (Dr. Dolittle series, Garfield, Alien vs. Predator) gave Collider.com some insight on what the movie will be about:
I think your developing a few video game properties.
John Davis: Yes.
And I wanted to know . . .
John Davis: What we’re working on, The Sims?
What is it going to take to make the really good video game movie? Cause a lot of fans out there have been less then satisfied.
John Davis: I think we have it in The Sims. I’ll tell you why.
Every one’s said that though. I’ve heard this before.
John Davis: I know, but I think we have it in The Sims. First of all, The Sims, 65 million units have been sold, the most successful video game ever. Right? Ever.
How will this translate to being a great movie?
John Davis: And Tom Rothman, the Chairman of Fox said to me, “How are you going to take this incredible piece of IP and make it into a movie?” Right? Because most games aren’t movies, so this is the way I did it: The Sims, as you know, you can control your imaginary world, right? And our movie, a young man, a 16 year old kid of a 14 year old kid and his friend get their hands on this thing called the Sims Infinity Pack, right, which kind of this very strange video game store which was there just for that moment, and seemingly wasn’t all that. But what they realize is that they can scan their world in, because this is the most life like, real Sims game ever. And as they are playing this they are all of a sudden realizing is what they are playing on the game is having an effect on the real world. So in effect, through the game, they are able to control their world. It’s wish fulfillment, and obviously it turns against them.
So this is a little bit of a cousin of “Weird Science” here.
John Davis: Exactly. Exactly! And definitely there will be somebody coming out of the game into the real world, like “Weird Science” did.
Are you thinking about making this in that kinda vein, where it’s the fun kind of aspect of it? Or are you thinking of making it a PG/PG-13 kind of. . .
John Davis: I wanna make a Amblin-esque, really fun adventure movie, because I think the third act is great, because obviously there is a nemesis, and the nemesis gets his hands on the game in the third act and he’s now set up this incredible obstacle course of incredible things that you can only do through your Sims game that our heroes have to go through before the game becomes permanent and they’re forever screwed, and they have got to defeat that nemesis. So it’s got some big great fun, adventure set pieces, and whatever their imagination is creates the world.
How old will the protagonists be?John Davis: I think they’ll probably be 15 years old.
How well is the script shaping up?
John Davis: It’s shaping up great.
Hmmm…I don’t know. At first I was skeptical about the movie ever being created. Of course, this still doesn’t sound like an award-winning masterpiece…more like an episode of Goosebumps (the books and show kicked ass as a kid, I actually have a huge collection).
Ya know, when I first heard of this I thought of a Steven Carrel type playing a man who finds himself unwillingly controlled by an unseen player with funny and disastrous outcomes… oh wait, that’s what they had on IMDB years ago, I wonder why it changed. That concept would be pretty good for the audience. I mean, if they HAD to do a Sims movie.