Production began back in late 2001 in a Lionhead Studios brain-storming Press Conference. The idea began when Peter Molyneux and a few other Lionhead Studios executives came up with a new idea for a simulation game inspired by the 1990s hit game Hollywood Mogul. However the difference was to create a more diverse and lifelike strategy aspect to the game giving players the option to create their very own movie, a feature that Hollywood Mogul did not include. They announced the idea in April of 2002 at E3 2002. The fans reaction was tremendous - The Movies booth was one of E3's most visited that year and many companies wanted to distribute the game. Lionhead Studios eventually chose Activision. The game took almost 4 years to make because of various changes to the graphic engine during production.

In The Movies, players get the chance to run their own movie studio. The game can be divided into three main areas — designing the movie studio, forging the careers of movie stars, and making movies. It is possible to focus on any of those areas that appeal most, and spend less time on the others.

The game plays through from the birth of cinema to the present day and into the near future, with all the technology and historical advances that occur along that timeline. After the movies have been made, they can be played back for the viewer to watch. It is possible once the movie is made to add voice, text and music in post-production. The movies can then be exported and shared or uploaded to a website (The Movies Online) for anyone who wishes to watch them.

The two most important types of staff in the game are actors and directors, referred to as "stars" in the game. In order to keep stars in a positive mood the player will need to give them a salary the stars deem satisfactory (relative to their success), an image the stars deem decent, a trailer of good quality, and a large entourage. Stars can also get stressed or bored, depending on how many movies the player puts them in. Each star has different thresholds regarding when they will get stressed or bored. If stars get stressed, they will resort to alcoholism or over-eating.

Other staff include extras (which can be promoted to Star status if they are good enough), janitors, scientists, scriptwriters, and crew members.

The studio lot is where sets and buildings are built. In order to increase the 'prestige' of the studio lot, the studio must be neat, free of litter, well laid out and with areas of grass, trees and decoration. Buildings must also be linked together by paths. Buildings and sets also decay, thus decreasing the quality of movies that they appear in. They will eventually become unusable if they do not receive maintenance or repair by your staff.

The first four rival studios your studio will compete against are the following:

*Maxipack Worldwide [founded between 1898 and 1902 ]
*Lionear Productions (a spoof of Lionhead Studios) [founded between *1904 and 1908 ]
*Creamboat Creations [founded between 1908 and 1912 ]
*Old Rope Cinema (a spoof of the Time Warner-owned New Line Cinema) [founded between 1914 and 1918 ]

Later in the game these five studios open:

*Rigor mortis|Rigormortis Movies [founded between 1937 and 1941 ]
*Gusset Entertainment [founded between 1947 and 1951 ]
*Cletus' Shotgun Cinema [founded between 1957 and 1961 ]
*Boney Studios (a spoof of Sony Pictures Entertainment) [founded between 1965 and 1969 ]
*Booboo & Dingo Films [founded between 1971 and 1974 ]

no other studios open for business after 1974.

There is no limit on movie length. The average movie length is between 30 seconds and 3 minutes, but user created films can be as long as budget will allow (although a 10 minute film might require over 20 game years of filming).

Once the actors, extras, director and crew are assigned to a film, production begins, with the entire staff of the film travelling between sets to film the movie.

The sandbox mode allows films to be created without undergoing the lengthy production process, and with budgets of over $100 million

Players are able to pick a script provided by the studio's writers or write their own. Provided scripts take longer to write in game time, while user-written scripts take longer to write in real time.

For prewritten scripts, the player hires a writer at the Scriptwriting Office to make one. The player initially begins with the Basic Scriptwriting Office, in which six script writers can work together on a single script. This office is limited to creating one star scripts. The first upgrade, the Intermediate Scriptwriting Office, comes in a basic pack, after the first awards ceremony. This building has a maximum of a two star script. The second upgrade, the Proficient Scriptwriting Office, is won by meeting the criteria for an award. It can employ six scriptwriters like before, but each writer can now work on his/her own script (effectively allowing for 6 scripts be written simultaneously). This building creates complex scripts usually nine scenes long, and is limited to a maximum of a three star script and the fourth upgrade a First class scriptwriting office and the maximum of four star rating and can have his/her own script like a proficient Scriptwriting Office.

The ability to write one's own script is enabled after unlocking the Custom Scriptwriting Office, also unlocked from winning an award. It is limited to what highest scripting office can produce (if the player has the Proficient Scriptwriting office, he/she is limited to a three star movie). Writing a custom script follows a storyboard-like suite. For each scene, the player chooses a set for the scene and then the action that will occur during the scene (for example: 'Living Room 1: Enter Scared'). The actors and their costumes can be chosen, extras assigned roles and mood, lighting and weather settings altered.

Once production has finished, the film undergoes post production (provided a Post Production Building has been erected), where music, sound effects, subtitles, speech and titles can be added to the movie. Cuts and changes can also be made to the length and order of the scenes, making editing the film easier.

The game allows for lip-synching, matching the speech to the actors. However, this only works for short sound files, and only shows basic lip movements.

The film can be one of five genres: action, comedy, horror, romance or science fiction.

Some examples include:

*Star Wars (sci-fi)
*The Odd Couple (comedy)
*The Exorcist (horror)
*Mission: Impossible III (action)
*Titanic (romance)

The main effect genre choice has is that real world events affect popularity of different genres (The Vietnam War decreases popularity of action, the Space Race increases the popularity of science fiction, and World War II decreases the popularity of horror and the Great Depression increases the popularity of comedy).

Sets are the constructions in the studio lot where the cast and crew assemble to shoot movies. The sets are divided into categories such as urban, western and rural. Different scenes have different actions available (a bar might feature many drinking related actions, while a street would feature various car actions).

Sets can be used to practice movies and increase genre experience. For example, an actor practicing on the set of a spaceship will increase his/her science fiction proficiency, leading to better sci-fi movies he/she is cast in.

The game starts in 1920 and continues indefinitely, although technologies tail off in 2020. As a result, early films are in black and white without sound, while modern movies feature digital sound and computer-generated imagery. Inventing these innovations before rival studios can increase the quality of your films, but hiring more researchers can cost more than the extra income the advances provide.

Once you have reached Level 3 in story mode, the publicity office becomes available. This allows actors to hold press conferences and organises marketing for your movie. Once a publicity office is built, players can also choose an advertising budget when releasing a film. A heavily-advertised movie can make much more money, but using too much advertising can result in the movie being 'over-exposed'. For best results, make sure to match your advertising budget with the quality of your movie.

The game has been designed to be mod-able. Lionhead has stated that they might release the actual tools they used to create scenes, shortly after the release of the game, along with expansion packs. Alongside this, unofficial mods are possible, leading to extra props, sets and clothing designs.

The Movies website contains a section called the Propshop [1] which lets users purchase additional content using virtual credits, earned through other achievements online. The propshop is regularly updated with new props, sets and costumes.

The Movies has many virtual and other "Easter Eggs", undocumented features, unannounced features, unannounced content, oddities, glitches inside "The Movies" including all current EPs patches.

Actors play a big role in The Movies. An actor's age and physique affects the quality of movies. Scary-looking actors are suited for horror roles, Younger, more handsome looking actors are more suited for romance movie roles, 30-year old actors are suited for action roles, and older actors are suited for comedy roles. All actors and directors will retire at age 70. Be sure to pay very close attention to the critics' reviews of that actor.

There are two types of animal in the game: horses and dogs. Both interact with the actors, but are limited in actions; horses can only carry actors, while dogs can fetch a ball, chase a thief or attack an actor.

At this time there will not be child actors included in the game. It's been explained that to create children, a unique skeleton would have to be done requiring completely different animations and programing. Child actors are something that could be included in a future expansion pack.

A key element of Story mode is money. Money can only be produced from box-office sales and the sale of scripts and stars. The staff must be paid, and as a result, construction of sets or the filming of movies cannot continue if the studio is in debt.

Once the movie has been completed, it can be saved in a proprietary file format for transferring to other PC users, or WMV format for online sharing. Outstanding player-made films will be nominated for a Stanley, Lionhead's version of the Oscars.

Actors can be dressed in different costumes, with thousands of possible permutations; clothing, hair style, tattoos, jewellery and other cosmetic options. If the outfit chosen for an actor is fashionable in the current era (waistcoats in the 1930s, floral patterns in the 1960s, etc), the actor will receive a popularity boost. If when the stars clothes go out of fashion and you do not change them the stars image will go down and make them unhappy.

The Movies Online ([2]) is the online aspect of The Movies. As well as its own section on the general Lionhead forums, TMO allows players to upload their own movies to the Internet for others to review and criticize. This translates into Virtual Credits (VCs), a form of virtual currency that is used to buy new props, costumes, sets and to advertise online movies.

The game was originally going to be ported to PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, but development of the console ports was halted immediately before acquisition of Lionhead by Microsoft. The game was officially cancelled on February 7, 2006. Poor sales was the reason cited for the cancellation. On February 8, 2006, Lionhead Studios announced that the console version may still be released, it just wouldn't be published by Activision. Some rumors are saying if it is released on consoles, it may get boosted up to next-gen systems: Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

While in gameplay there is a radio station playing called KMVS. For each significant cultural era (eg the Red Scare) there is a DJ with a different personality and favoured genre of music. The change in music is as follows:

*1920s and 1930s: Jazz
*1940s: Swing Jazz and War Themed Music.
*1950s and 1960s: Classic Rock
*1970s: Disco and Arena rock
*1980s: Urban Arena rock New Wave and Hip Hop
*1990s: Grunge and American rock
*2000s: Pop

The Lionhead logo when the game first loads is not just an animation; the square can be grabbed and dragged. The square will move, along with the little squares.