SquareSoft’s Hawaii-based movie subsidiary, Square Pictures, is to be sold, following the massive losses it incurred in the production of its premiere release Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
The movie lost a staggering $135 million and although Square has pointed out time and time again that the technologies pioneered in its making have an ongoing value, the company’s notoriously angry shareholder body has decreed it must shed that side of the business. A large percentage of the initial expenditure that went on The Spirits Within, went on setting up the studio and equipping it with state-of-the-art CG production facilities, the time scale projections for profitability remain to lengthy for Square to shoulder.
Square has gone on record to say that although the business will be sold, the company will be retaining a small percentage enabling it to work on collaborative projects, as well as small CG movies, in the future.
In other news, it has been revealed that Square Pictures is involved in the production of a CG short movie for the Matrix sequel, The Matrix Reloaded. The company will be producing a ten-minute prequel to the movie for release to cinemas next year.
The movie lost a staggering $135 million and although Square has pointed out time and time again that the technologies pioneered in its making have an ongoing value, the company’s notoriously angry shareholder body has decreed it must shed that side of the business. A large percentage of the initial expenditure that went on The Spirits Within, went on setting up the studio and equipping it with state-of-the-art CG production facilities, the time scale projections for profitability remain to lengthy for Square to shoulder.
Square has gone on record to say that although the business will be sold, the company will be retaining a small percentage enabling it to work on collaborative projects, as well as small CG movies, in the future.
In other news, it has been revealed that Square Pictures is involved in the production of a CG short movie for the Matrix sequel, The Matrix Reloaded. The company will be producing a ten-minute prequel to the movie for release to cinemas next year.
Companies:
Square
Read More Like This