If you've ever wanted to make your own Marvel movie, now's your chance.
Deadpool & Wolverine is blowing up the box office, but you don't have to scurry off to the movie theater to enjoy it. You can make your own Deadpool & Wolverine movie in Blockbuster Inc, a movie studio management sim that just added some pretty recognizable superheroes—yet still legally distinct from Marvel—in its latest update.
Weirdly enough, I tried to recreate Marvel's Iron Man movie in Blockbuster Inc back in June, failing so badly that my in-game father stormed out of the theater disgusted that he'd paid for my film school education. Harsh. Maybe part of the problem was that there wasn't an Iron Man-type character to put in my movie, so I was stuck using an actor wearing an astronaut costume.
That issue has been solved for fans of Deadpool & Wolverine, because now you can put the "Indestructible Claw Man" and the "Iconic Samurai" into the films you make in Blockbuster Inc. Take a peek at the new suspiciously familiar heroes:
Yes, that's definitely an off-brand Wolvie fighting "We've got Deadpool at home." There's also another hero who looks like Homelander from The Boys and a Wonder Woman knock off if you want to really go wild. And if you're not into superheroes, there are plenty of other genres represented in Blockbuster Inc, from pirates to gangsters to elves to aliens. Heck, you can cram 'em all in the same movie if you want.
There's a lot to manage in the sim besides just actors dressed up like superheroes. You need to build your backlot and hire a staff including writers, producers, crew members, and even janitors. Make sure you pamper your talent by setting them up in nice apartments, keep an eye on your budget, build sets, buy and upgrade equipment, and research new movie-making technology as your studio grows and expands through decades of Hollywood history.
Once you've got a script and your crew and actors are standing by, it's not just a matter of clicking a button to make a movie: you actually get to direct a little film yourself. You place the actors where you want them in each scene, choose their animations, adjust camera angles and special effects, and shoot a bunch of scenes. You can even edit it all together when you're done filming, then see how it does at the box office.
My Iron Man ripoff ("Ironed Man") cost half a million dollars and only made about a quarter of that back, while critics resoundingly described it as "okay." Not really something to pop champagne corks about, but I still greenlit a sequel. Maybe you'll have better luck with a fake Deadpool and a bargain store Wolverine. You can find Blockbuster Inc on Steam.
