Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within from 2001 will be getting an official re-screening at the NIIAFF 2025 (Niigata International Animation Film Festival), held from March 15 to 20 (source: Eiga.com). The film is being positioned as a “Turning point in Japanese CG animation” by the festival.
Directed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi himself, The Spirits Within is a 3D animated sci-fi film adaptation of Final Fantasy. It was co-produced by Square and Columbia Pictures. Although it’s known for being the first photorealistic CG-animated feature film, which used the most cutting edge technology at the time, it is somewhat infamous for damaging Square financially and leading to the closure of Square Pictures.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within not only ran over budget, costing Square and co-producer Columbia Pictures a total of $137 million USD, but it ended up being a complete box office failure too. It grossed only $85 million, with its screenings being discontinued prematurely both in the US and Japan due to poor attendance. In Japan,* it was badly affected by the lack of a dubbed version and overshadowed by the massive release of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. *(2025/02/20, 13:38 JST: Edited error)
As a result, Square recorded huge financial losses and was forced to withdraw from the film industry, closing Square Pictures and cancelling the Final Fantasy: Unlimited TV anime series halfway through. The company was ultimately driven to seeking capital injection from Sony and other companies.
Despite its unfortunate history, it’s nice to see Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within recognized for both the artistic and technological innovations it made. The film will be screened at the NIIAFF 2025 from March 15 to 20 as part of the “Turning points in Japanese CG animation” category.
I’ve been really loving this site lately, but I believe you have a slight error here: “In the US, it was badly affected by the lack of a dubbed version.” On the contrary, the American theatrical release of The Spirits Within was stacked with a star-studded Hollywood cast! It had the likes of Alec Baldwin and Donald Sutherland, and Ming-Na Wen was the lead! If anything, it appears (glancing at Wikipedia) that it was *Japan* that received no Japanese dub; it looks like the film was only recorded in English.