Final Fantasy The Spirits Within

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is perhaps one of the most perplexing things within the Final Fantasy Series, even today. This full motion picture film had little to do with Final Fantasy, other then small references, and was perhaps used to bolster the movie's sales. Released on July 13, 2001 in theaters across the United States, the film was created by series founder Hironobu Sakaguchi. Square Pictures was established to take on the movie.

The movie followed scientist Aki Ross and Dr. Sid as they tried to save the planet Earth from a merciless alien race known as phantoms. A general known as Hein also wants to stop the aliens, but in doing so he will use the Zeus, a space cannon that could potentially harm the Earth. The cast must stop the aliens without causing such destruction.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was heavily co marketed by Sony Pictures, being extremely close to Square already. While receiving generally standard reviews, the film was a complete box office bomb, the biggest in history at its time, with losses over $120 Million. Square Pictures was dissolved, and Square was once again nearing bankruptcy. This movie is known as one of the many causes leading to the eventual merger with Square's rival company Enix.

Despite its failures, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within did set a new standard. It was the first movie to completely attempt to use photorealistic CGI; In fact, many people could hardly tell if the movie was CG or real during some close ups. This extreme use of CGI is perhaps what has given Square the talent to produce their quality FMV movies in future titles.