Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap to make movie version of video game The Sims
Margot Robbie’s production company has set its next project: a movie adaptation of The Sims.
Yes, that’s The Sims — the time-sucking, sandbox video game in which players make a virtual avatar do day-to-day things like eating lobster thermidor, going to the bathroom or painting. The characters can have goals, families, and jobs, and if neglected, they can die.
The first version of the game launched in 2000, a spin-off of SimCity, and expanded and upgraded over the years beyond the suburban house to include different environments and worlds, some with supernatural elements.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.LuckyChap, the business run by Robbie, Tom Ackerly, Josey McNamara and Sophia Kerr, packaged up The Sims movie with director Kate Herron, who will write the screenplay with Briony Redman.
Herron directed the first season of Loki, episodes of Sex Education and the upcoming second season of The Last of Us while Redman has credits on Forget Me Not and Doctor Who. The other producers include Vertigo Entertainment and The Sims’ video game studio, Electronic Arts.
A movie version of The Sims is not dissimilar to the Barbie movie which LuckyChap developed and produced. The Sims also does not have an existing narrative structure and is a global brand. The games have sold 200 million copies across all formats.
The Barbie movie clocked up $US1.44 billion at the worldwide box office, won an Oscar and a Golden Globe and was a genuine cultural moment. But it did face some criticisms which likened it to a giant ad for Mattel and The Sims could attract the same disapproval.
LuckyChap was founded in 2014 and its first release was the 2017 Robbie movie I, Tonya. It has also produced Terminal, Dreamland and Birds of Prey, which all star Robbie. It worked on both Emerald Fennell films Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, and the Keira Knightly-starring Boston Strangler.
Its next release is My Old Ass, a comedy starring Aubrey Plaza and Maddie Ziegler which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it was acquired by Amazon MGM for a reported $US15 million.
