TheFinal Fantasyseries is one of the most popular game franchises of all time, but somehow has avoided the classic Hollywood adaptation treatment for almost four decades now. The originalFinal Fantasywas released by Square in 1987, spawning ananthology seriesthat would go on to take the world by storm.
Every numberedFinal Fantasygame is more of a volume, not continuing the previous entry’s story but beginning a whole new chapter taking place in a different world. While some throughlines and concepts occasionally weave their way through multiple games in the franchise, for the most part,the strength ofFinal Fantasylies in its variety and storytelling.
For a long time, it was understood that video game movies were cursed, with Hollywood seemingly being doomed to release a flop (or at best, a mildly entertaining disaster) when operating within the confines of a video game I.P. In recent years, however, the film industry has had much more success with video games, breaking this supposed curse wide open.
With how many activevideo game movies are in developmentin the present day and age, it’s a surprise that theFinal Fantasyseries has mostly not managed to breach the silver screen. Considering just how popular the franchise has become even outside its home market in Japan, a big-budget blockbuster adaptation seems ripe for filming.
Final Fantasy Has Released Animated Films, But Never A Live-Action Movie
A Movie Nearly Bankrupted SquareEnix
Just because the series has yet to spawn a live-action film doesn’t mean thatFinal Fantasydoesn’t have its fair share of spin-off media. Because of the wonderful high-concept fantasy worlds the series tends to inhabit,Final Fantasymovies and TV shows have thus far been entirely animated.
The series has seen a number of spin-off anime seasons come and go, but franchise developer SquareEnix released their first feature-length film withFinal Fantasy: Spirits Within.Thanks to its original story and unconvincing CGI animation,Final Fantasy: Spirits Withinbecame one of theworst box office bombs of all time, a grave financial disappointment.
Luckily,the series has had more luck with animation since, thanks to the direct-to-DVD anime moviesFinal Fantasy VII: Advent ChildrenandLast Order: Final Fantasy VII, both of which took inspiration from one of the franchise’s most beloved entries. There was also the ’90s OVA,Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, which acted as a direct sequel to the fifth game.
2016’sKingsglaive: Final Fantasy XVis another tie-in movie to the series, also animated via photorealistic CGI.
In all that time,Final Fantasyhas never dared to experiment with live-action media. The nature of the settings and fantastical plots the series navigates would make it difficult, but JRPGs likeFinal Fantasyare now more popular than ever, and modern video game movies can acquire quite impressive budgets.
How Close A Live-Action Final Fantasy Movie Has Come To Reality
Final Fantasy Has Come Close, But Yet So Far
Despite nearly being bankrupted byFinal Fantasy: Spirits Within, SquareEnix has been publicly agreeable to the idea of a properFinal Fantasymovie. A live-actionFinal Fantasyfilm has never been publicly developed, but Sony was quietly brewing a series at one point, according toVariety.
Sony Pictures Television has apparently threw their hat into the ring to be the first to make a live-action adaptation of the series, collaborating with SquareEnix and Hivemind, the studio behind Netflix’sThe Witcherseries. Following suit, this would have been atelevision show based on the gamerather than a movie, likely competing withThe Last of UsandFallout.
A movie may be a better fit for a live-actionFinal Fantasyproject after all, with a larger budget able to handle the ambitious settings of the franchise.
Sadly, the idea wound up lying dead in the water after only a few years, according toHivemind’s co-founder Dinesh Shamdasani’s admission on Twitterlast year. Apparently, the scope and spectacle of the concepted series was simply too much for prospective buyers, with Amazon coming the closest to giving Sony and Hivemind what they would have needed.
Thus, a movie may be a better fit for a live-actionFinal Fantasyproject after all, with a larger budget able to handle the ambitious settings of the franchise. Yet according toGameSpot,Final Fantasyproducer Yoshinori Kitase hasn’t had any talks with Hollywood, though he’s aware of the franchise’s appeal to some in the film industry.
Which Final Fantasy Games Could Work As A Live-Action Movie?
Hollywood Could Find Inspiration In Surprising Places
Because theFinal Fantasyseries is so vast and varied, determining which game a movie should adapt is an entire thought exercise in and of itself. The obvious answer would be to make a film version of the most popular entry in the series,Final Fantasy VII, which Kitase has observed to be a hit among many filmmakers.
Indeed,mass appeal would certainly be on the side of a live-action movie that could detail the story of Cloud and Sepiroth, butFinal Fantasy VIIis far from the only option. The Sony series almost took place in the universe ofFinal Fantasy XIV, which broke the mold of the franchise by being a popular MMO still played by 30 million people to this day.
Because of the massive in-built fan base and near miss with live-action reconstruction,Final Fantasy XIV’s already-developed world could be the best place for a live action movie to explore. But when it comes to sweetly and succinctly suiting the needs of a movie, one underrated entry in the franchise could make for a great movie.
Final Fantasy XVisn’t the most beloved game in the franchise, but its set-up of a bizarre modern fantasy dungeonpunk version of the American Southwest could make for anawesome road trip movie, laden with loveable and distinct characters fans already love. Perhaps this unorthodox approach could be the best way forFinal Fantasyto finally break into the movies.
Would A Live-Action Final Fantasy Movie Actually Do Justice To The Games?
Perhaps The Idea Hasn’t Been Explored For A Reason
At the end of the day, the reasons for the Hivemind series' cancellation might sum up everything about whyFinal Fantasycouldn’t work in live action.So many special effects and so much suspension of disbelief are needed for almost everyFinal Fantasyworld that any pieces of spin-off media may as well just be animated.
On top of the high demands of production, the idea that the series is mainstream enough among general audiences (not just gamers) is still a bit laughable, making it a difficult pitch to studio execs. More than anything else, though, condensing the sprawling, massive games into two and a half hours might simply be too much effort for aFinal Fantasymovie to be worth it.
