So I watched FF - The Spirits Within for only the second time and I got to thinking - what is the purpose of calling it Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within? This movie was released in 2000, around the same time as Final Fantasy X was coming out, which would be the premier game for the PS2. FF7, the most popular Final Fantasy, had been four years ago, the same time as production on the movie started. Two years earlier than this, Toy Story had been released with widespread popularity, and revolutionizing the animated movie genre forever. This would be the first movie of such a genre oriented towards adults.
Ultimately, the movie the failed. Box Office gross was minimal, especially compared to expense. The hopes put forth by the effects surrounding the film (that the photorealistic graphics could one day replace real actors) were dashed, and Square essentially abandoned its movie production plans in America - the land of movies (until FF7:AC, but that’s another story)
So my question is this. Although one could argue that this was around the time of FF’s pinnacle of popularity (so far), the words “Final Fantasy” only meant anything to people in a niche market inside a niche market. So why make the title “Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within”. It could easily have been called just “The Spirits Within”. Why add the FF monniker. Even much of the video game playing population associates FF with long boring storylines with little actual playtime, repetitive predictable action, and cookie-cutter fantasy design. Add to that the fact that the movie had little if nothing to do with FF in the first place.
It wasn’t a mistake. Marketing firms and divisions do their research carefully, so they had full knowledge of what they were doing when they decided to make the title “Final Fantasy - TSW” instead of something else. So what were they thinking?
They were thinking that a mediocre movie might make a little dough if they claimed it was based on a fairly popular video game series. Of course, people saw it and immediately realized it had nothing to do with the series, but by that time they’d already paid their eight bucks.
There’s also the fact that the story style much resembled several FF games, particularly FF7 and FF9. There’s a lot of corny talk about spirits and hearts and collecting stuff, fighting against weird monsters, and taking care of “the planet”. So even though the actual movie elements had nothing to do with the series, you might say it’s FF’s spiritual successor. (No pun intended.) (Right.)
It’s got a guy named Cid. That’s what makes it Final Fantasy. Everything else is irrelevant.
But wouldn’t you think that the term “Final Fantasy” is detrimental? Wouldn’t it antagonize audiences more than bring them. Video game movies have a deserved stigma of being bad.
They’ve also brought in respectable cash flow, even though they were bad, and FF:TSW is arguably one of the best video game movies to come out. Frankly, I think there are far FF fans who were interested in seeing what all the fuss was about and went to see the movie, than there were people who decided not to see it because it was “based on a video game”.