Then they used 1,000 computers in Hawaii, more than 200 professionals, and it took four years to finalize, with a cumulative investment of $137 million.

This fund can be said to have taken out all the accumulation of Square Enix in the game field for many years.

In terms of story and production, Hironobu Sakaguchi also tried to combine the RB-style oriental narrative with Hollywood's most advanced CGI technology in "Deep Soul", in order to create a final film that combines East and West.

From the current point of view, "Deep in the Soul" is technically impeccable, and Square Enix can be described as excellent in this regard.

Motion capture is used throughout the film, and even multiple people are captured at the same time, so as to create the closest to real live-action action, which even Hollywood movies today can't do.

And those virtual actors, in terms of lines, hair, expressions, skin, texture, etc., are almost the same as real people.

Therefore, if Hollywood film companies are still watching from the sidelines, then a number of big actors in Europe and the United States are somewhat frightened.

If the film is really successful, will a new era of motion capture and CGI-based cinema really arrive?

In that case, is it true that there will be no need for live actors anymore?

You know, studios will be more than willing to spend money on CGI roles, not on "insatiable" movie stars. After all, these CGI characters are not like movie stars, who want a box office share on the left and an omni-channel commission on the right.

"Deep in the Soul", an ambitious film from across the ocean, was distributed by Columbia Pictures, and in the first week of theater release there were as many as 2,600 theaters.

Not to mention the amount of money Square Enix and Sony spent on publicity, as well as the retailers that bundled marketing accordingly.

This can be said to be the biggest action of Asian cinema in North America since Akira Kurosawa. Although there are many strong players in this year's summer file, "Final Fantasy: Deep in the Soul" still attracts everyone's attention.

As soon as the box office on the first day of Wednesday, July 2 came out, everyone was shocked, not that the box office was too high, but that it was too low!

"Sean, I don't seem to have a good eye, how can I see that the first-day box office of "Deep in the Soul" is $5 million?" Jon Philheimer rubbed his eyes repeatedly, and Sean, the distribution manager opposite the subject, said, "Did you write a 0 less?"

"No, I really don't. Sean shook his head again and again, "I have already asked people to confirm the data with the theater alliance, and the box office of "Deep in the Soul" on the first day is indeed 5 million US dollars!"

$5 million!

The first-day box office of "Final Fantasy: Deep in the Soul" directly made this movie like a wild boar planted in a meat grinder, and the miserable scream was heard clearly by the whole Hollywood.

Whether it is Square Enix of the producer or Sony Pictures of the distributor, they are all old blood.

Columbia Pictures just had the joy of "Harry Potter" exploding, and was immediately poured a basin of cold water on the head, and his heart was cold.

The explosion of the film with the Fire Lion and the dud of the film produced and distributed by Sony Pictures itself were staged alternately by only one month, which really made a group of Sony Pictures employees experience the ups and downs like a roller coaster.

"Deep in the Soul" grossed $2.6 million on the second day and rebounded slightly on Friday, the third day, to 3.9 million. But this kind of single-day result that does not even have 10 million US dollars is already a rain hope that people have no expectations.

Even though it lasted six days in the first week, "Deep in the Soul" barely managed to make $11 million at the box office.

This is simply the worst A-list production in recent years, and all the North American viewers who watched it unanimously said that it was simply the most boring movie they had ever seen in their lives, and more than half of them fell asleep in the movie theater after seeing half of it.

Hironobu Sakaguchi's attempt to sell RB's Oriental story was completely bankrupt, a story that was too false and did not move the audience's emotions in the slightest, and in the end, only the oriental metaphysics was left with the illusion of the universe.

In fact, it is not only the North American audience who sees sleeping, but even during the film's local release in RB, RB audiences have been deceived, and many people have seen falling asleep.

The box office of "Deep in the Soul" in the second week also plummeted to $3.6 million after a large number of bad reviews flowed out!

Even with Columbia Pictures as a backer, this unintelligible, pretending to be a ghost movie was hastily released after just 7 weeks of release.

It's a new record.

And the rumors that CGI movies will replace live-action movies are self-defeating!

Square Games was immediately on the verge of bankruptcy and even sold its U.S. branch and retracted to RB home.

However, critics generally believe that the failure of this film is not the failure of CGI computer technology to simulate real people, but the failure of the script.

The story content of Japanese animation, combined with the blunt techniques of American cinema, finally created a failed product that no one in the East and the West would like.

"I agree with the critics on this. Sid said to Jon Philheimer on the other side of the video call, "Motion capture and CGI characters are definitely still the mainstream direction of visual effects in the future." Our Macguff can also do something at this point. ”

"Well, okay. As head of the film division, Firmheimer will of course also be in charge of Macguff's related subsidiaries, "but in terms of the amount of investment?"

"It's okay to maintain a certain degree of autonomy, it doesn't need to spend too much, after all, we don't need to create another industrial light and magic out. Sid knocked on the table and said, "In the future, there will definitely be more and more VFX companies, and the competition will become more and more fierce, we just need to stay within the range of independent profit and loss." ”

"Okay, I see. Fellheimer nodded, then he paused and said, "By the way, Boss, there's something important to report to you." ”

"What?"

"Warner Bros. Pictures recently launched the Golden Compass project. Philheimer's words weren't long, but they were weighty.

"Oh——, they're in for the success of Harry Potter?" Sid said with a faint smile, "they're really impatient." ”

"The Golden Compass" is the best-selling children's book by British author Philip Pullman, and if JK Rowling has become an upstart in British children's literature because of the success of the "Harry Potter" movie, which stimulated sales.

Philip Pullman is widely regarded as "the best Anglo-Saxon fantasy artist" after Tolkien.