Square messed this up royally, their target audience in the West, Gamers, wanted a movie based on Final Fantasy VII, what they got instead was a film not connected to ANY game in the franchise aside from having a guy called “Cid” in it.
So, spending that much money on a franchise that not only alienated it’s target audience, but had zero brand recognition outside of that (it never caught mainstream press like other games such as Tomb Raider Etc.), was bound for disaster.
The uncanny valley also didn’t help, I remember Terry Gilliam completely laying into the movie freaky CG actors in a BBC interview.
Square messed this up royally, their target audience in the West, Gamers, wanted a movie based on Final Fantasy VII, what they got instead was a film not connected to ANY game in the franchise aside from having a guy called “Cid” in it.
So, spending that much money on a franchise that not only alienated it’s target audience, but had zero brand recognition outside of that (it never caught mainstream press like other games such as Tomb Raider Etc.), was bound for disaster.
The uncanny valley also didn’t help, I remember Terry Gilliam completely laying into the movie freaky CG actors in a BBC interview.
“Threatening to replace actors” I remember this. Almost 20 years later and we’re really no closer to overcoming the uncanny valley.