According to industry insider , and corroborated by , it looks like Margot Robbie’s production company LuckyChap will be producing a film adaptation of The Sims alongside Vertigo Entertainment. The adaptatio🐼n will be directed by Kate Herron, showrunner of Disney Plus’ Loki, who will also co-write with Briony Redman. T🤪he duo previously worked on a Doctor Who episode together, and Herron will also be directing an episode of The Last of Us’ second season.
When the news broke, many asked a very pertinent question: what on earth would a Sims adaptation even look like? To which I say: what could it not look like? When we heard about Barbie’s adaptation to film, which was also produced🦋 by Robbie, did we not have the same doubts about what on earth a movie about a toy doll could possibly look like? And did it not end up creating a widespread cultural movement? Did you not see everybody dressed in pink at the cinema? And was it not the highest grossing movie of 2023?
The Sims: A Girl Game
I had my criticisms of Barbie, mostly in that it didn’t go far enough🌼 with its message, but I still think the concept was great. Making the movie a meta exploration of what Barbie represents and how her story mirrors that of real women was a smart move, and I think that a movie about The Sims has similar potential for success because of its cultural meaning and target demographic.
The Sims is a cultural touchston🐻e, a game that, just like Barbie dolls, has historically been considered as being ‘for girls’. Many a gamer has told a woman that she’s not a ‘real gamer’ because she plays The Sims, despite it being one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time and having long-standing appeal. I have distinct memories of playing The Sims 2 on my middle-aged aunt’s computer, a game she owned because, well, she played it too. It was the only game she played. It’s probably still the only game she’s ever played.
Much of the confusion about The Sims’ adaptation comes from the fact that there isn’t a story to adapt. It’s a sandbox game where you can make your own Sims or use pre-made characters, and you get to control thei๊r lives down to the minute details. You choose the way they look, their careers, their hobbies, their aspirations, who they date and marry and have children with, what their houses look like, and even how they die. But I think that blank slate offers so many interesting possibilities, and I’ve been imagining them since I read the news. Some are thematic, while some dig into the lore. There’s a lot of potential here.
They Do A Barbie
They get meta with it. The Sims are tortured by their creator, forced to die in horrible, violent 𒊎ways and reset over and over to be killed in perpetuity. It is a sort of purgatory, maybe even a hell. The Sims gain consciousness and rebel against their creator. The simulation breaks and the characters enter the real world. This is, of course, very close to the plot of Barbie, so I think it’s very unlikely that this would happen. It would be pretty sick, though.
The Feminist Angle
Another meta possibility. Just like in Barbie, we see how girls play The Sims and have their love for it minimised because of the way the game is perceived. We see both how the game impacts players and the characters within the game, and how girls use it to live out thei♔r dreams when so often their gender is used against them in the real world. This is a trite one, and I’m not rooting for it. I’m more interested in the characters, like…
The Disappearance of Bella Goth
Bella Goth was a character in the first game, but disappeared from The Sims 2. What happened to her? Nobody really knows. She’s a townie in Strangetown in The Sims 2, leading some to speculate that she was abducted by aliens and taken there, and simply never left. In Sims 3, you can find her as a ghost in Lunar Lakes, which apparently suggests she died of old age in outer space, but she doesn’t look like the original Bella, which has led to widespread the🉐ories 🙈about what actually happened to her.
The New Sims 4 Expansion Lets You Be A Landlord, Which Is Too Evil Even For Me 🌠
I like to torment my Sims as much as the ne𒆙xt guy, 🍸but damn.
The Sims has dropped easter eggs about this mystery since The Sims 2. There are missing persons photos of her on milk cartons, a woman who looks like hﷺer will be seen with a man in a striped suit if you place a hot air balloon in any neighbourhood, and placing the “Bella Squared” portrait in Strangetown will make her show up.
In The Sims 3, there’s a book called “Where’s Bella” in bookcases. A book called “Murder in Pleasantview” hints that Bella wasn’t abducted, but murdered. Private Investigators snooping for clues may say, “This reminds me of when Bella went missing… I need to keep looking.” A murder mystery? Say less.
Olive Specter, Serial Killer
There’s a character named Olive in The Sims 2 who has had 21 Sims die on her lot, and they’re all buried in her garden. Her biography says that she stops at nothing to get what she wants, and spends her free time sharpening sticks and excavating her yard. Not suspicious at all. 🅷Her memories indicate that she ꦛmight have fallen in love with the Grim Reaper and killed people so she could see him more often.
Some think that the Sim Nervous Subject is her son, conceived in a tryst with the Reaper, and they both appear in The Sims 3. Her description seems to confirm she was in love with the Grim Reaper, but the backstory for the town has her🐓 complain about the unfair rumours about her. I don’t know, Olive, sounds kind of murdery to me.
I could go on, especially when it comes to the wealth of lore wr🌳itten into a game where the story is often overlooked by more casual players. Invested Simmers know that there’s a lot of weird stuff in the game to pick out and expand, though, and I’m hoping that the final movie will be a combination of interesting meta themes and a celebration of how weird and wacky The Sims really is at ܫits core. Also, I fully expect to see Sims drowning because their pool ladder mysteriously disappeared. The movie wouldn’t be complete without it.
- Video Game(s)
- ♛ The Sims, The Sims 2, The Sims 3🔯, The Sims 4
Since the launch of The Sims in 2000, the series has become one of the biggest-selling in history, Created by Will Wright, developed by Maxis, and published by EA, it💟 consists of sandbox games in which you create characters and drop them into a unique life sim⛦ulation. The series is known for its vast library of DLC expansions, which cover everything from school life to fame and celebrity.
