I guess as my motivation wasn't to turn the game into a film, I really can't say whether if we hadn't done that it would have done better. Trending pages Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Does "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" share any of those commonalities? FINAL FANTASY is the groundbreaking new CGI film from the creators of the Final Fantasy Video Game Franchise. There's probably more common elements but I think the main obvious one is Dr Sid (who's name spelt with an S instead of the traditional C) is present. So many people including me were hyped when a Final Fantasy movie was produced. The limited edition Final Fantasy Watch is a wristwatch produced by Japan-based watch company SEIKO to run parallel with the release of the film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.There are 1,000 pcs of this watch for Japanese version, but no confirmation for the amount of US version out there. By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy, 2021 Stack Exchange, Inc. user contributions under cc by-sa, https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/107120/what-is-the-connection-of-final-fantasy-the-spirits-within-with-the-rest-of/107130#107130. " While the astounding digital work will undoubtedly amaze, so will the fact that the film's four-year development did not generate a more cohesive story. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy#Common_elements. Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals is set about 150 years after Final Fantasy V, and features the descendants of the game's four final heroes facing off against a new threat called the Ra Devil. Cast and crew. Ironically, Final Fantasy V didn't officially come stateside until 1999, when Square released the Final Fantasy Anthology compilation. Fast, free delivery. Based on a computer game, Final Fantasy is always interesting to look at, and is sometimes visually spectacular, but it hasn’t transcended its gaming origins. It is one of the most recognized and successful franchises in the industry with a loyal fanbase. Tom Hanks, your nightmares can cease for your job is safe. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is a computer animated science fiction film directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the popular series of RPG video games Final Fantasy produced by Square Enix. Much has been made of "Final Fantasy" 's photo-realistic digital characters and, while digital actors may feature ego-free obedience and no exorbitant salaries, it seems even they cannot overcome a weak script. In terms of brand name, the following is quoted from an interview with Motonori Sakakibara, co-director of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (emphasis mine): Q: With very few films based on computer games doing well at the box office normally, in retrospect, do you think the film could have performed better if it had not been associated with the games? One month free trial! Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is regretfully synonymous with the words “shitty movie.” It performed so poorly in theaters that the company that created ended up shuttering. And for the first few minutes, it does. Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan. One of the biggest bombs of all time based on one of the biggest game franchises of all time. And of course there was the whole ghost/Gaia aspect, which was sufficiently magical for me. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Shown as enormous red creeping vines, similar to the nature of the Phantoms, the Alien Gaia is hostile to its current environment and all living things become victim to the … Hironobu Sakaguchi Director. So we didn't start out saying, OK, here's a game and we're going to put it on the big screen. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi and Moto Sakakibara, premiered in the United States on June 11, 2001. Like the spirits of the title, though, it's hidden deep within. With the aid of the Deep Eyes Squadron, Aki must save the Earth from its darkest hate and unleash the final spirit. Answer: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Based on the phenomenally successful computer game, "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" is a visually stunning movie, and an outright triumph of technological innovation. Where most blockbusters would go for the big-bang ending, "Final Fantasy" is content to indulge its spiritualist angle, resulting in a damp 'healing power of love' conclusion, replete with pointless sacrifice. Yet like so much of Japan's Anime output, it's long on imagination and short on story. For a movie based on a video game, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was very good. Alec Baldwin, Ming-Na Wen, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin, Donald Sutherland, James Woods, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites. The sci-fi scavanger-hunt premise hasn’t been fleshed out into a coherent or satisfying story. Q: Many fans of the Final Fantasy gaming universe were upset because there were very little fantasy elements in the film (such as magic, monsters etc). Chris Taylor from Time magazine noted that video game adaptations had a poor track record at the box office and that it was Sakaguchi's first feature film. Nevertheless, somewhere between the reams of dollar signs and computer code, a story (of sorts) there is. With a plot that freely plunders the likes of "Aliens" and "Starship Troopers", the visual grandeur cannot hide clichéd dialogue, thin characters, and a frustrating lack of development. Movies. Let's see if there's any redeemable value to the CG weird-fest Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. You can also provide a link from the web. Menu. Hironobu Sakaguchi, Al Reinart, Jeff Vintar, Stars: The Alien Gaia is in essence similar to Earth's Gaia in that it is, or was, the spirit of its planet and all of its planet's spirits are connected to it. The incredibly realistic characters and beautifully rendered backdrops in this movie make it a fascinating work of CGI. ... Interest-Based Ads The heroes, though eye-poppingly rendered, remain emotionally as one-dimensional as any computer-game avatar. Given the technology on show, there are deleterious lapses: poor synchronisation of voices to digital lips and a limited range of facial expressions, resulting in extreme danger or sorrow being reflected in a surprisingly calm visage. And since it was intended on being a standalone movie, there weren't supposed to be many common elements with the games. 9 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within The Spirits Within had nothing to give fans when it debuted in … Funding a movie based on a video game is a dicey proposition. What is the connection of "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" with the rest of "Final Fantasy" franchise. Rent Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) starring Ming-Na Wen and Alec Baldwin on DVD and Blu-ray. Film adaptation of the video game franchise of the same name follows an Earthly scientist's fight against a vicious alien invasion. The only thing FF:Spirits Within has in common with Final Fantasy, the video game, is the name in it's title and the same employees working on the CGI. One can speculate on a lot of theories as to why the film didn't do well, but as far as association with the game, I was producing the film without having that in mind, but because Mr Sakaguchi is really the creator of Final Fantasy, and he is just so strongly associated with the game it just became a natural progression that this movie was named after it and became what it was, which is Final Fantasy the movie. Most of these costs came from the style of computer animation used, some of the most realistic used at the time. Newsnight thinks of "Final Fantasy". ... An offshoot of a popular computer game, is really all about inducing visual awe. Next to such atrocities as Tomb Raider and Street Fighter, it positively shines, and when compared to the complete gibberish known as the Super Mario Bros. Movie... Having said that, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within could have been A Lot Better. Originally scheduled for 52 weekly episodes (two seasons), due to box office failure of The Spirits Within, the aired series was halved, leaving a large amount of information omitted and the plot becoming rushed in the final stages. With Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Ming-Na Wen, Ving Rhames. Writer: The creator of the multi-billion dollar “Final Fantasy” video game franchise, Hironobu Sakaguchi, tapped Remington as the department head of motion for his groundbreaking computer generated feature film, "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within", the first theatrically released animated film to utilize performance capture for principle characters. Check out our "Final Fantasy" mini-site, containing an exclusive Film 2001 report, a picture gallery (including development sketches of Aki), and interviews with the producers. I guess the idea of the project was elsewhere, in that we wanted to push the technological envelope further for computer graphics, and show off Square's skill and the artists' skill on the big screen in Hollywood. In general, the games in "Final Fantasy" franchise are not in the same universe but they at least share several common themes/similarities: What ties the various Final Fantasy series together, aside from the name? Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within ... Aki must save the Earth from its darkest hate and unleash the final spirit. So in honor of Final Fantasy VII Remake’s release, and the resurgence of fans rewatching Advent Children because of that game, let's go back and rank them all. These 2 things do not make it a video game movie. In Japan, the film grossed ¥ Even a modest movie isn’t a cheap undertaking and you can easily lose your audience. The story is a functional slice of science fiction, as scientist Aki Ross (Ming-Na) and mentor Dr Sid (Sutherland) work with a 'Deep Eyes' marine unit (Baldwin, Buscemi, Rhames) to defeat wraith-like aliens by channelling the eight 'spirit waves' of Earth or Gaia, the planetary soul. A scientist makes a last stand on Earth with the help of a ragtag team of soldiers against an invasion of alien phantoms. During preproduction the script went through fifty incarnations. Two major motion pictures have been created based on the video games, with one of them released in 2001, titled Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, being the most expensive movie based on a video game ever made. Aki found her 6th Spirit at the ruins of New York City (USA). A: One of the reasons goes back to my previous comment on the whole game to movie thing, where we didn't initially sit down and say let's turn the game into a movie. Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, Motonori Sakakibara. In one of the incarnations, there was a small child named Meg, who had a much larger part in the … Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is the biggest videogame movie flop of all time losing millions at the box office because of its high production costs. Lets start at the beginning. Before the film's release, there was already skepticism of its potential to be financially successful. In terms of brand name, the following is quoted from an interview with Motonori Sakakibara, co-director of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (emphasis mine): Q: With very few films based on computer games doing well at the box office normally, in retrospect, do you think the film could have performed better if it had not been associated with the games? Without question, "Final Fantasy" is a technical milestone, and a thoroughly impressive one. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within has been adapted into a novel, the spin-off game Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles has been adapted into a manga, and Final Fantasy XI has had a novel and manga set in its continuity. Official Title: en verified Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within: Official Title: ja ファイナルファンタジー (2001): Type: Movie: Year: 02.07.2001: Tags: action Action anime usually involve a fairly straightforward story of good guys versus bad guys, where most disputes are resolved by using physical force. But Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, however, is just that. It's not very usual that a movie based on a game turns out to be a stunning movie. Based on the phenomenally successful computer game, "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" is a visually stunning movie, and an outright triumph of technological innovation. ABSTRACT A meteor impacts Earth in 2065, unleashing a surprise assault on humanity by vicious alien lifeforms bent on decimating all life standing in the way of their intent to reign supreme over the planet. Notably, it was also the first movie ever to feature photo-realistic animated characters though sadly, the movie was a box office failure and drove the production company out of business. The year is 2065 & Earth has been devastated by alien life forms known as Phantoms. Note that Mr Sakaguchi is also the director of this movie hence where the Final Fantasy title is likely to have originated. 20. Early incarnations included a New York City divided in an \"upper city\" and \"lower city\", riot police, oxygen salesmen, and dispensing machines, and even French Foreign Legion desert troops and European biohazard soldiers. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. A: I really can't say. there were very little fantasy elements in the film (such as magic, monsters etc)" Any sufficiently advanced (alien) technology is indistinguishable from magic, in my opinion. You cannot fail to be impressed by the startling human detail: skin blemishes, fluid body movements, and (some) facial expressions have been realised with resounding success. With Doug Walker, Malcolm Ray, Tamara Chambers, James Jarosz. Read what It is also the only film adaptation made by the game developers (Square Pictures), who designed Final Fantasy with a complete series of original stories. (max 2 MiB). Answer : No. She found the 7th Spirit in a battlefield wasteland somewhere in mid-USA. Tomb Raider, is a video game movie. Category:Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within contains all Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within articles on the Final Fantasy Wiki. Believe it or not, Spirit Within it the ONLY Final Fantasy-based story (game or otherwise, which I know of) which are based on our own world (Earth). Or merely a brand name? The film was co-produced by Chris Lee Productions, a subsidiary of Sony/Columbia Pictures, and Square Pictures, the film affiliate of Square Co., the Tokyo-based company that produced the popular The movie's working title was simply \"Gaia\". Get unlimited DVD Movies & TV Shows delivered to your door with no late fees, ever. Final Fantasy- The Spirits Within Based on the video game series, Final Fantasy- The Spirits Within is an action packed and dramatic science fiction movie with a completely computer generated cast. The Final Fantasy franchise is a long running series of role playing games by Square (later Square Enix). Seven novellas based on the Final Fantasy VII universe have also been released. Click here to upload your image Final Fantasy is the groundbreaking new CGI film from the creators of the Final Fantasy Video Game Franchise. The film debuted on July 2, 2001 at the Mann Bruins Theater in Los Angeles, California, and was released in the United States on July 11, making $32 million in North America and going on to gross $85 million in worldwide box office receipts. Can you comment on why these elements didn't appear? If you fail to make the movie true enough to the video game, you’ll alienate your built-in fan audience. Directed by Doug Walker.