Rodin's "The Thinker." Courtesy of innoxiuss; edited by Level Up
The Idea: A teenaged male's wish fulfillment story is the best way to make a movie out of The Sims.
The Thinker: John Davis, movie producer
The Source: A Q&A on Collider.com
The Exchange:
Collider.com: 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.
Collider.com: Every one’s said that though. I’ve heard this before.
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.
Collider.com: How will this translate to being a great movie?
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.
Collider.com: So this is a little bit of a cousin of ‘Weird Science’ here.
Davis: Exactly. Exactly! And definitely there will be somebody coming out of the game into the real world, like ‘Weird Science’ did.
Collider.com: 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. . .
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.
The Reaction: For those of us (males) who came of age in the '80s, there's something shrewd about Davis' take on The Sims. Who among us did not marvel at the marvels of the former Mrs. Steven Seagal, better known as Kelly LeBrock? That said, the logline of this in-development adaptation of The Sims is rather dispiriting. Not merely for its "Small Soldiers" meets "Jumanji" lack of originality, but also for having shifted the movie's focus to boys from girls. Hasn't Davis heard of such female-centered alternate-world classics "Alice In Wonderland," "Peter Pan" or "The Wizard of Oz"? Apparently not.
We recognize that The Sims appeals to a broad audience, but according to Electronic Arts' own internal data, 60 percent of Sims players are female, and from casual conversations we've had with EA producers and executives, teen girls make up a sizable chunk of that audience. For Davis to take The Sims--the videogame equivalent of a soap opera or a telenovela--and turn it into yet another teen male high adventure story not only stereotypes videogames as being the province of boys alone, it also represents a missed opportunity to illustrate how this videogame in particular has illuminated the inner lives of girls, women and men alike.
The Verdict: Red light. Davis needs to spend less time crunching the numbers for Hollywood box office and more time speaking with former Sims bosses Will Wright and Lucy Bradshaw about the kinds of stories that girls and women have told through The Sims--then find a way to transform those creative impulses into a big screen hit.
What's
your opinion? Are we making too much of a harmless adaptation, or does Davis' take represent a missed opportunity? Let us know
in the comments below.
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