Inside look: ‘Scene It? Box Office Smash’

Sure, you can use your Xbox 360 to drive fast, beat people up or shoot Nazis, but there are also times when you might want to use it to sharpen your mind. And not just because it’ll make you a better driver, fighter and soldier.

“Scene It? Box Office Smash” is the latest incarnation of the popular movie trivia franchise and requires you to use your film knowledge (and the special big-button controllers) to answer questions about your favorite movies, solve word scrambles and even test your memory after watching big screen scenes. There are upwards of 3,800 movie related questions with plans to add more as downloadable content in the future. We spoke to Microsoft’s Fred Norton, the game’s Senior Producer, to find out more about the new version of this cinematic brainteaser.

Besides new questions, how is this version different from last years “Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action”?
We’ve added five new types of puzzles. One is called “Pixel Flicks,” which has players trying to identify a movie after watching a scene from it recreated with old school, 8-bit-looking animation. We also have one called “Celebrities Ties,” which is like “Six Degrees of Separation.” We give you two actors and a question that will clue you in to the name of the movie, and then we give you a third actor and one of the previous actors, and you have to guess the name of that movie, and so on.

And how many of these involve Kevin Bacon?
I have no idea.

Does the game have any online options?
Yes. We’ve added the ability to play across Xbox Live. And not only can you play against people, but you can also have four people on the same machine playing as a team. So it can be four players each on their own machines or up to sixteen players with four teams of four.

“Lights, Camera, Action” was essentially the same game as the one released on DVD. Is that true for “Box Office Smash” as well?
No, it’s all new. Nothing in this game has ever been in another “Scene It?” game.

So why didn’t you call it “Scene It? 2: Electric Boogaloo”?
We didn’t want to call it anything like “Scene It? Version 2.”

How do you decide what movies you’re going to make questions for?
That’s kind of a long process. Basically, we get together as a team and try to get movies that resonate with a lot of people. Though we also try to make it balanced, so we don’t have too many comedies or something.

Given the fact that Sony makes the PlayStation, does that mean you can’t get any Sony Pictures’ movies in the game?
Oh no, that’s irrelevant. At the point we’re dealing with it, it’s on a studio and talent level. In fact, while some studios are more favorable than others, no studio has said they’d never work with us.

Has working on this game prompted you to see any movies you never had any interest in seeing?
There’s actually been a couple. I had never seen “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” but the clips in the game were so funny that it made me go out and rent it.

Check out some challenges from “Scene It? Box Office Smash.”