''The Movies'' is a

business simulation game Business simulation games, also known as economic simulation games

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

and ported to Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. Players run a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...

, creating films that can be exported from the game. ''The Movies'' was released in November 2005 to positive reviews and several awards, but sold poorly. An expansion, ''The Movies: Stunts & Effects'', was released in 2006.

Gameplay

''The Movies'' allows players to run their own movie studio, including designing the studio itself and managing the careers of film stars. The game starts at the birth of cinema and continues into the future. Players can create their own movies using in-game assets and at one time could upload them to the game's website The Movies Online.

Development

Lionhead Studios co-founder Peter Molyneux came up with the original idea and development began in February 2002. An early version of the game was ready to show to journalists at the European Computer Trade Show in September 2002. The game was released in November 2005 and by the end of the year had sold above 50,000 copies in the United Kingdom, a number that Eurogamer's Kristan Reed called "relatively minor". The game ultimately received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the region. The soundtrack for the game was composed by Daniel Pemberton.

''Stunts and Effects'' expansion pack

In June 2006, Lionhead studios released the expansion pack ''The Movies: Stunts and Effects''. Feral Interactive ported the expansion to Mac OS in 2008. The expansion added stunts and stuntmen, new special effects, fewer camera placement restrictions, and expanded environments and clothing options.

Reception

Review aggregator Metacritic gave the PC version a score of 84 out of 100 ("Generally favorable reviews") based on 62 reviews from critics. The first review was published by

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

, which gave the game a 3.5 out of 5. Metacritic gave the expansion, ''The Movies: Stunts & Effects'', a score of 78 out of 100 based on 37 reviews from critics. ''

Computer Games Magazine ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...

'' gave ''The Movies'' their 2005 "Best Utility" and "Best Original Music" awards. The game won the best simulation award at the 2006

BAFTA Video Games Awards The BAFTA Games Awards or British Academy Games Awards are an annual British awards ceremony honouring "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry. First presented in 2004 following the restructuring of the BAFTA Interactive En ...

Looking back at the game in 2015,

Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' (also rendered ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun''; short ''RPS'') is a UK-based website for reporting on video games, primarily for PC. Originally launched on 13 July 2007 as an independent site, ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' was acquir ...

said that it had promising features but failed to deliver on them. In 2016, '' The Guardian'' called ''The Movies''s online service " rhaps the most forward-thinking feature" because it pre-dated YouTube by a year.

Use in machinima

Using ''The Movies'', Alex Chan, a French resident with no previous filmmaking experience, took four days to create ''

The French Democracy ''The French Democracy'' is a 2005 English-language French short political film made by Alex Chan using computer animation from Lionhead Studios' 2005 business simulation game ''The Movies''. The plot centers on three Moroccan men who turn to ...

'', a short

machinima Machinima, originally machinema () is the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation. The word "machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''ma ...

political film about the

2005 civil unrest in France The 2005 French riots (french: Émeutes de 2005 dans les Banlieues Françaises), was a three-week period of riots in the suburbs of Paris and other French cities, in October and November 2005. These riots involved youth in violent attacks, and t ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Movies, The 2005 video games Activision games Animation software Business simulation games Feral Interactive games Filmmaking video games Interactive Achievement Award winners MacOS games Lionhead Studios games Video games scored by Daniel Pemberton Video games set in the 20th century Video games set in the 2000s Video games with expansion packs Windows games RenderWare games BAFTA winners (video games) D.I.C.E. Award for Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year winners Video games developed in the United Kingdom Multiplayer and single-player video games