The Movies, A 1-Star Film Studio

The Movies, A Game about Making Films
Edited by ‪@project_bruv‬
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[@ambiguousamphibian]

If you are reading this, then you are truly more cultured than an old glass of milk. Be sure to go check out CallMeKevin and LGR's vids on this one - wouldn't honestly have known about it without them.

[@SkyrimForevaVic]

love to hear you’re an LGR fan also!!

[@zezegm3421]

i am actually less cultured than an old glass of milk but thank you for believing in me

[@flamingtanksquad7199]

Thanks

[@1pleed]

Ok

[@rebel4466]

Really? I thought the game was bigger back in the day

[@PhantomSavage]

ah man I used to LOVE this game. Played it for hours.. I even had the special edition that came with companion software called "Star Maker" which allowed you to effectively do a Sims Style Create-a-character for actors/directors. It also effectively allowed you to break the game because you could max out their stats from the very get go, so could basically start the game out in the 1920s and import Brad Pitt into the game to be your leading man.

[@DuneDemon8]

The creative possibilities in this game were endless. I would make funny knock of Start Trek episodes for my brother with this. Parodies for movies we liked. And a Serbian hop hop musician made a music video with this game called "Spejs Nigrutin".

[@Sabbatic]

Oh hey I saw Brad Pitt play a leading man in the 20s! It didn't end well...

[@andrefasching1332]

So you deem Bratt Pitt to be THE Actor of all times (between 1920 and now) Sad chaplin noises

[@MyScorpion42]

Unless the special edition Star Maker was different, you could only give them, like, a decent starting experience. However, you could make them have maximum stress and boredom tolerance, which was something you couldn't train

[@theroninrenofficial9058]

bruh star maker and the "dlc" for the extra themes and stuff was awesome. but nothing gets better than base game, sims style movie making where you end up with the most ridiculous shit even gpt5 couldnt dream up

[@NinjaMan47]

My favorite pastime was taking the Janitors and placing them in the lead roles. It was like taking raw clay and sculpting a masterpiece.

[@andyghkfilm2287]

“I’m gonna MAKE YOOUU a STAAAH!!”

[@Jadriam]

Crankenstein's Kooky Tomb was a real surprising film. I can SINCERELY say I didn't expect that ending.

[@sloppyjoe400]

Im looking forward to Crankensteins Kooky Tomb 2

[@dimanosov5393]

@@sloppyjoe400 We've still got to glog through Bride of Crankensteins Kooky Tomb

[@SammTheHamm]

"The director is constantly thinking about the next bottle of alcohol". Yeah, that's pretty accurate for 1920s Hollywood

[@ThisNameIsNotTaken99]

Not like modern Hollywood, which has no drug abuse problems whatsoever.

[@cyanidenightshade]

​@@ThisNameIsNotTaken99prohibition

[@davidjohnson4171]

Swap out alcohol with coke and it's like nothing's changed

[@christianlenik5307]

​@@ThisNameIsNotTaken99but Woke Shit

[@antisocial9424]

The guy who was stabbed and got back up was the Unslowable Omnibus

[@sakakaka4064]

Damn, that's deep

[@DargorShepard]

​@TheDoc_KA demonic hermaphrodite that can't be slowed down.

[@Trick762]

And then the movie ends with a gorilla reading a book

[@kermut]

Was looking for this comment

[@Rhainiac]

erm.....uhh......985????

[@TheTennesseeTornado]

"A movie that's more predictable than taxation and more boring than those that impose it." I'm using a modified version of that line at some point. That was brilliant. 5 Star Review

[@guagzila5185]

Petition to make cringe films an official company

[@tripleaarcade]

They’ll do better than the current studios

[@snatchr2451]

its called sony

[@ilovegarradors]

It already is. They're called Asylum. And they rush out crap movies too.

[@mralmostknowitall]

Thought it was disney

[@jaebebifi]

JacksFilms has been on youtube like 17 years wdym

[@Spalfos]

I loved this game as a kid, at least whenever I could get it to run on my PC. I’m still holding out hope for a spiritual successor, like what Two Point Hospital was for Theme Hospital

[@likeabriton]

Blockbuster Inc is just around the corner, check it out.

[@thelast749]

There is Blockbuster Inc

[@Spalfos]

@@thelast749Oh dang, I hadn’t even heard of that! And it apparently releases tomorrow?? Def gonna keep an eye on reviews

[@natariiiii]

Blockbuster Inc comes out tomorrow. You should try the demo!

[@goatee21]

One of my faves too. I'll check out blockbuster!

[@HSnake5]

Oh god you have unlocked some memories. I will never forget my blockbuster factory studio that exclusively made movies set in WW2 where everyone is dressed as gorillas

[@TheRealRusDaddy]

You were just making propaganda lore for planet of the apes

[@jampine8268]

Gorilla warfare was more of a Vietnam era thing.

[@TheVonWeasel]

@@jampine8268 An entire series dedicated to "Gorilla Warfare" because the director didn't understand what it meant is brilliant

[@felixdaniels37]

​@@TheVonWeasel Sounds like we found our "Planet of the Apes" sequel.

[@ConnanTheCivilized]

“Those damn dirty Ap…. Oh! I am so getting cancelled!”

[@tolbiny36]

I didn't remember the movie watching parts having a curtain and an audience and then I noticed the amphibian-shaped silhouette LOL

[@JamisShulikov192]

I never played this game and actually thought these were real lol

[@Nebular66]

That's what modern Hollywood is missing, sudden jump cuts to the lead character just dead on the floor.

[@andya696]

"The unslowable Omnibus" is an old-timey alternative title for "Speed".

[@MiniMackeroni]

"If this carriage goes below 12mph, it will EXPLODE!"

[@TheGabrielbowater]

I think it was called, "The bus that couldn't slow down"

[@Markyparky56]

This game is honestly one of my all-time-favourites. I used to love making horrifically expensive and complicated Sci-Fi films that did terribly. Came back to this game a couple years ago and played it like a Tycoon game and got all the awards. You need to aggressively micromanage stars to achieve all the 5 star challenges. One trick to get better scripts without using the custom script house is to be constantly churning out scripts so your writers skill up. Can then sell the subpar scripts. A spiritual successor would fantastic. Movies aren't made quite how they used to. TV, Streaming, would be interesting to see them incorporated.

[@lamb-mz2sd]

The spiritual successor needs to have a cheat code for infinite money, by holding down D key, E key and I key at the same time.

[@giorgilobjanidze5667]

Expensive sci fi films that did terrible? James cameron eat your heart out

[@Number_055]

A spiritual successor is coming out literally today (7 hours from when I posted this comment). It's called Blockbuster Inc.

[@Markyparky56]

@Number_055 Super hyped! Edit: nevermind, gave it a go but it's pretty bad. It has no heart or soul like The Movies had.

[@Markyparky56]

@@Number_055 finally got a chance to try it. It bad. It has no soul.

[@heyitsjustaz]

God I hate how much this game still lives in my head rent free. Easily one of the most frustrating, unintuitive, lowest QOL games I ever played in my life. I never once felt like I was close to being successful. But god, I'm tempted to reinstall it *right now.* A pox on you and Kevin both for letting the demon back into my body.

[@EGFxUnited]

Where can you install the game from?? I've been wanting to play this game again for years now but from everything ive read it just wont work

[@justinjohnson476]

@@EGFxUnitedit's considered abandonware now, you can google my abandonware and look up the game and obtain it for free. many old games can be obtained this way! it's how I still play the sims 1 to this day

[@askaladv]

@@EGFxUnited There are certain sites you can get an iso from... should be a pretty high up result on google searching for "the movies iso" with some compatibility advice in the comments

[@AMan-xz7tx]

@@EGFxUnited not even pirated?

[@heyitsjustaz]

@@EGFxUnited I have it on Steam, it used to be available there. It's not on the store anymore unfortunately, but I still own it and can reinstall it.

[@The1Scraf]

People actually made some incredible machinimas with this

[@WolfyFancyLads]

They still do! It's got a low-key cult following. There's even a modding community, it's kinda awesome people still love this game. ^^

[@egoalter1276]

2000s tycoon games is one if the peaks of gaming as an artform.

[@TheRealRusDaddy]

This is the ultimate show down!

[@TheRealRusDaddy]

@@egoalter1276back when tycoon games had to try

[@sokar_rostau]

This game was literally ahead of it's time. Of course nobody could have known what was just around the corner but if the game had been released a couple of years later players would have been able to upload to KZbin rather than Lionhead's website, which would have given it all so much more exposure. By the time dedicated players started uploading to KZbin it was far too late for a game that had already been in the bargain bin for a couple of years. The REAL tragedy of The Movies is that there was never a sequel.

[@Sardatfk]

Being a alcoholic was so common in the 1920s I don't even know why its listed in the bios, it would be like calling them a smoker, ofcource their a smoker

[@jampine8268]

I think in the context of the game, it's a negative, between them showing up to shoots absolutely loaded decreasing their performance quality, and needing to be pried from the bar slowing down the production.

[@cam4636]

@@jampine8268 Wait 'til you see what smoking near nitrate film can do

[@thisisnotthechannelyourelo407]

they're* (they are)

[@ToniHyvarinen86]

I remember playing this back in the day, i once made a very long custom script and the shoot took like 100 years, didny help that everyone was alcoholic and constantly getting drunk at the bar.

[@jrojassengard2586]

If you're wondering, those cuts to text in silent movies don't happen all to often. They try to convey as much as they can with just expressions and pointing. Works pretty well too.

[@t3hr00tb33r]

"Judged by Machine" sounds like a techno-power metal band.

[@MiklaneTrane]

Unslowable Omnibus = The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down = Speed

[@IanTheWonderDog]

I got this game for my birthday or Christmas one year after convincing my parents to get it for me, only to find out our family computer couldn't run it. We ended up returning it and I've always wanted to play it ever since.

[@BulborbStan]

Tech was moving fast in the 00s. I remember the family computer I used for Half Life 2 couldn't run Prey which was only 3? years later.

[@serpentine6171]

Same here but I never returned it!

[@KaioKeane]

I get the same sense of satisfaction when a KZbinr that I like shouts out other KZbinrs that I'm already subscribed to. It's like the same excitement you get when you recognize a voice actor in a show.

[@tripdefect87]

I was a teenager when this game originally came out and I was honestly so hyped for it, thinking that it would be a more advanced version of the old Mircosoft 3D Movie Maker. What we ended up with was a management sim with some very loose semblance of "movie making". Still had fun with it though and even bought the expansion pack. This game was on Steam for a bit, but Lionhead studios changed hands in management and it got delisted

[@DJEylisium]

There were a lot or really competent movies made and uploaded to the official site back in the day, it allowed for pretty great control over sets, dressings, cameras/custom camera positioning and post processing that'd allow custom music and sounds amd effects as well as voicing the actors too!

[@heyitsjustaz]

Dang you're right, I still have it on Steam and didn't realize it was gone. I was about to start recommending it to the people in comments having trouble getting their copy to work. I feel incredibly lucky now. Just reinstalled my copy and it runs great.

[@tripdefect87]

@@heyitsjustaz What sucks too is that the game refuses to work on anything beyond Windows XP, but I'm sure there are work arounds that I haven't tried

[@stitchfinger7678]

​@@tripdefect87 my ex had it working on win10 but I have no clue how at this point I think we found an unofficial patch that did it Still had some quirks but worked enough for her to hit the end of lifetime mark at #1 🤷‍♂️

[@Unknown_Genius]

@@stitchfinger7678 most games usually just work out of the box, worst thing that usually happens is that it requires an old directx driver that has to be manually installed. that aside unofficial patches are usually a must if they exist, most games of that time really don't scale well with modern resolutions or don't run as well as they could with some often enough minor changes that sometimes go as low as only including the gpu in an ini file.

[@walnzell9328]

7:37 Train spotting huh!? I'll show you train spotting! **Cut to that silent film of a train pulling into a station that had the audience believing they were about to get hit by it.**

[@jampine8268]

Train spotting was probably not more interesting I'm the age of steam. I mean, diesel/electric trains are still cool, but not as cool as steam engines.

[@novembersuitealso1900]

In his book, "The Film Sense", Sergei Eisenstein praised "The Unslowable Omnibus" for its experimental structure and narrative, touting Jean-Claude Cottier as a true ally of the working man.

[@Baleur]

Would seriously love a continuation of this game. As tech improves in your studio, the movies get progressively "better" and longer. It's very entertaining hearing you psycho-analyze (yes that was intentional) the script.

[@heyitsjustaz]

The MST3K reference was obligatory but still beautiful

[@NottoriousGG]

This youtube production has the makings of the rebirth of AA as a producer, director and lead actor., and major entertainment star. Having given the world such creations as the adventures of Torsolo, Owl, and Gerald Williams, as well volunteering countless generations to the dead painters society; AA looks poised to return in full force. Looking forward for more ambiguities of the amphibian kind. ^^

[@jackinthebox301]

Man, I played the crap out of this game my first year at college. Thank you for making me want to play it again. Who knows where my copy is. Welp, off to the high seas.

[@AccordionThis]

You can find it for free online without the high seas, but installation is a pain.

[@jackinthebox301]

@@AccordionThis I saw someone else mention it’s abandonware now. I found a copy pretty quick.

[@CatOperated]

My only memory of this game is when it was new, this guy sent me a link saying he “put me in a movie” and it was a character that looked like me getting killed in a horror movie. So romantic.

[@KibbyAnna]

I was OBSESSED with this game as a kid, I wish more people would play it lol

[@JessWLStuart]

Loving the MST3K-esque viewing silhouette of AA watching the movies!

[@kulture_vulturee]

This game was so pivotal for my childhood and teen years I would come back to it randomly just to make the worst films possible. I remember when the website still worked so you could upload your movies to the game website, pretty sure it rendered as a Windows Movie Maker file

[@KibblesJack]

I spent so much of my time playing this as a kid, I got legitimately excited when I saw you uploaded a video of it!

[@underdog353777]

"The Movies" was not only novel and let you do some creative things - it was also just a really solid management game. If anything is deserving of a remaster, it should be this!

[@Polygonetwo]

Thanks for reminding me this game exists. I played it a ton as a smol and have v fond memories of making very silly movies with various family members. You can actually get quite creative with the custom editing once you've unlocked the various technologies and outfits, and there's even a custom actor creator you can use as a separate app that comes with the game.

[@themightyhood5922]

A part two of this would be quite welcome!

[@thetoondevil]

10:48 that was 20th Century Fox's mindset when making movies.

[@NinjaMan47]

So many memories of this game, right there next to the Sims. And just like the Sims my puny kid brain could not figure it out and so shamelessly cheated.

[@flamingdog9207]

Oh damn, same.

[@IRMacGuyver]

This was great. Better than what Hollywood is pumping out these days. I hope you stick with it and do one of these every couple of weeks.

[@tannermattingly4462]

This was my favorite videogame to play as a kid, I spent so many hours making terrible scripts in the editor. I'd sneak down at like midnight to play it, until one night I caught my mom playing it at midnight too!

[@ApocalypticSoviets]

My brother and I spent a lot of time in this one. I fondly remember my masterpiece "Dawn of the Communist Robots," an auto-generated titled I was inspired to build a film around. Honestly, I think this game came out just a little too early and could have been an ever bigger, but surely still cult hit in it came out in the late 2000s or early 2010s when KZbin was just hitting it's stride.

[@mattp9636]

Thank you for tickling a nostalgia nerve I forgot I had

[@realMemberberries]

I swear to god you are the only content creator who covers games from my childhood that I feel like everyone forgot about, and I'm all here for it. I'd love to see you tackle the Black and White Lionhead games next!

[@UnicornsExist17]

Your voice crack on "Cringe Films" was everything 😂

[@cmystery4180]

God I was obsessed with this game growing up. It was like this, zoo tycoon and the sims that really made the early 2000s for me.

[@BlondLoki]

I got this game to work on my computer again a couple of months ago and spent an entire week playing through it to make sure I got all the awards and certificates. So much heart in all the little animations and the management system is surprisingly deep.

[@Lalelailulo]

Wish MST3k did silent movies that were 20 seconds long and had them go "well looks like something is about...oh its over" lol

[@DreamfallLeader]

I remember we with classmates were playing it in mid school back in the day. Making movies, sharing them on CDs. Truly Marvelous!

[@Snoot_TV]

My favourite was the action movie where they mostly just made faces at each other for a while. And then a smile!? And then .. a PUSH. This also reminded me of a "game" I played a LOT of as a kid - I think it was called .. Opening Night? Wow. Memories.

[@seleniebeanie]

I was OBSESSED with this movie when I was younger. I still get the urge to play it now! Thank you for this nostalgic video.

[@simon123222]

There's a new game like this coming out tomorrow called Blockbuster Inc, just saw the steam page for it a few minutes before you posted this ironically enough.

[@ambiguousamphibian]

Ooo thanks that's on the list :)

[@SkeleTonHammer]

Unfortunately there are 2 other movie games coming out soon and none of them let you actually make coherent movies in the way The Movies does with choreography, editing, etc.

[@Number_055]

@@ambiguousamphibian I actually thought Blockbuster Inc was why you were releasing this video for some reason lol

[@blockbusterinc]

Thank you for this comment

[@alexcull]

Holy shit, I was obsessed with this as a kid and haven't thought about it in decades. Thank you for this trip down memory lane dude lol

[@StewartForsyth]

I really enjoyed this game when it came out! I was thinking about it recently, and then remembered that, like Black and White, it probably won't be easily playable anymore.

[@TheRealRusDaddy]

Yeah gotta jump through a few hoops but its still playable but thats the problem with a lot of old games

[@Unknown_Genius]

@@TheRealRusDaddy since when is installing old versions of directx a few hoops? never had any issues running old games out of the box honestly. still prefer any community patch for fixing some of the original flaws + better support of modern hardware tho (especially resolution wise).

[@stellamarie1065]

I hope he does Black and White one day

[@VITAS874]

You can play still on win 10.

[@VITAS874]

Or like me have prepare win7 on old pc

[@chiefyk]

I loved this game as a kid, i need to find my old-old-old computer to see if I still have my old movies saved.

[@chinemejessica3137]

Ah yes, the master of chaos and philosophy has uploaded.

[@madyshae7890]

I love the radio announcers in this game. This game is hilarious and was so ahead of it's time.

[@spiceweasel]

3:06 Every Marvel Movie

[@kleptrep94]

I like how all these movies seemingly go to the 2023 School Of Thought and just end in a cliffhanger.

[@Lucagiftzek]

This was THE Game of my childhood, and I definitely want a new version!

[@MrNobody-bv4ec]

Your game selection is amazing, scratches a special itch

[@TheRemarkableBread]

Would love to see you continuing this!

[@MyScorpion42]

I like how the best strategy to make not just money but get a big studio rating is to pump out as many 1 star scripts as possible in the shortest amount of time. And that you have to surgically mangle your movie stars to get them to a 5-star rating.

[@VITAS874]

Just like today movies.

[@blahblah8370]

The movies. Nice.

[@guyanomaly]

The movies. Nice.

[@Deadspud]

Holy crap, core memory unlocked. I completely forgot this game existed.

[@CheshireCad]

You didn't re-use the gun from the previous film. That's just Lara's gun, and she pulls it out like that all the time. In fact, she doesn't even know that she's being filmed. The crew just secretly loads her gun up with blanks beforehand, then sends some poor actor in to strike up an ordinary conversation with her, which quickly results in her screaming QAnon conspiracies for several minutes. Then the actor just has to play dead when she invariably shoots them. We call it "method acting". With an emphasis on the 'meth' part.

[@yomama9390]

Wow, you don't know how to be funny at all.

[@thedragonden3294]

My child hood memories of owning this game have come absolutely flooding back to me

[@Ascendance2001]

I didn't think I'd see this game ever again after Jerma's incredible videos on it. Those are like my favourite of his videos

[@DropsOfMars]

I would actually love to see you continue onward, I've never actually seen the progression of time in this game and it would be fun to see. Great video as always 👍🏻 👍🏻

[@TheRedBaron1917]

Oh boy movin picture films!

[@dnm20241]

This was one of my favourite games when I was young! I was super happy every time Kevin released a Movies video, and now another of my favourite KZbinrs has released a video of it. Oh, frabjous day! Thank you, AA.

[@HungarianWarHorse]

This feels like a sims mod

[@cam4636]

I feel like someone could cobble together a 'remastered' version with a few Sims/Tycoon mods...

[@stellamarie1065]

That's because it's from the same guy who made The Sims.

[@VITAS874]

​@@stellamarie1065 no, sims created by different studio and devs.

[@hardy_har]

love the little frog silhouette in the screening room

[@Th3BlackLotus]

I'd love to watch more of this game. This actually seems fun, and easy to break.

[@walkerwilliams-rigsofrodst3316]

It’s really nice of The Sims developers to make a game that accurately reflects every work day at Asylum Films.

[@ChristianNiegemann]

00:54 did you just hit puberty?

[@BinaryJoe]

"What did you think of my performance?" "...well, you certainly look like a great actor." Youch.

[@acciesfan8]

Theres a spiritual successor coming out June 6th! Its called Blockbuster INC and it looks really good

[@joslyndove]

i have never been so invested in a movie …crankenstein’s kooky tomb..what a work of art

[@SirusDiarota]

This game was far ahead of it's time. Had this and the Stunts expansion. Much shit was flung out.

[@c-puff]

As someone who'se really into historic Hollywood and movie making... this is a lot more accurate than it has any right to be.

[@danielhale1]

These days, remember to write sober and edit drunk. This ain't the 1920s anymore, your movie's gotta have a certain quality of slapped together plot, undirected actors, and arbitrary tone or it's just not gonna make the big bucks!

[@ambiguousamphibian]

Words to live by

[@chessemchesse3676]

This feels like if Ed Wood had actual funding and a studio behind his films

[@samprice1598]

Ok, is there a way to play this on modern PCs? I tried getting it to work before and it straight up didn’t work at all. Please send help I’ve been trying to play this forever

[@alexm3255]

This game was my special interest as a 10 year old and it brings me joy to see this unsung Lionhead Studios champion (suck it Fable) actually get some recognition for the bizarre little tycoon sim it was. It even used to have an online service where you could upload finished films, and people even used the in-game voice recording tools to make full composed films that their poor in-game studios actually had to manage to create for them. i don't think i'd have loved the 'sim' genre as much as I did if I didn't start with The Movies.

[@koryhardy9594]

Kevin, Josh, Matt, got love how much they test the limits of games they play 😂

[@mateostenberg]

WOOO A FULLY EDITED AMPHIBIAN VIDEO LONGER THAN 10 MINS

[@Fade7k]

My first movie was about a priest in a zombie apocalypse, black shades and a shotgun. Sadly, it was lost to time when the laptop died.

[@nsahandler]

Kevin got his start wit the "How 2 Troll in Call of Duty" series on machinama. Love that Leprechaun

[@alexanderkracinovich6123]

Please continue this series.

[@J01LYROG34]

Bro, this unlocked a bunch if core memories, from playing this as a child.

[@Dream0Asylum]

I really loved this game when it first came out. Eventually it dawns on you that there's really nothing much going on under the hood, but just building the studio as time progressed was quite chill. One of my favorite de-stress games from the mid-2000's.

[@TheRamblingSoul]

God this game was so good and so underrated. I almost skipped Thanksgiving dinner as a kid just to work on a film I was pouring a lot of time and effort into

[@Helluscus]

Jerma's movies with this are solid gold works of art

[@HHdrummer100]

I loved this game. I'm so happy the ambiguous frog man made a video on it. I could die happy now

[@SamwiseOutdoors]

This made me so nostalgic for these games. I did a semester final for an Italian class in The Movies.

[@FatalKitsune]

I can't believe I'm here to see the birth of the Ambiguous Cinematic Universe!

[@newenglandrider3189]

"Far Out Men" was goddamn beautiful.