News ► A Kingdom Hearts Disney Plus CGI series is rumored to be in the works

[Launchpad]

I've said it in my previous post but it wouldn't be breaking the rules if Sora uses summons. Like Simba, Genie, Stitch and Mushu are all aware of other worlds.

You'd be surprised how quickly any previously established rules will vanish as soon as Kingdom Hearts is a viable movie where all the Disney characters can appear together, make quips, and have action sequences. The stage is already set for it. Crossover movies are huge. Video game movies are huge. Multiverse stories are huge. Disney will move exactly how they want to.

 

[Chie]

Yeah I don't think there's any point in guessing what they'd do based on the actual contents of the games. I'm sure there'd be some stuff taken from the games, and maybe some references for fans, but even a good movie wouldn't be beholden to following any particular plan. The market for such a movie would be vastly bigger than the game fanbase (at least in theory), and they'd work from that idea first. The relationship to the games is barely relevant in such a scenario.

Unless Disney did just fund Nomura to do an Advent Children, but that seems much less likely for Disney executives to come up with on their own, so I'm assuming it's not something like that for now.

 

[Chaser]

Yeah I don't think there's any point in guessing what they'd do based on the actual contents of the games. I'm sure there'd be some stuff taken from the games, and maybe some references for fans, but even a good movie wouldn't be beholden to following any particular plan. The market for such a movie would be vastly bigger than the game fanbase (at least in theory), and they'd work from that idea first. The relationship to the games is barely relevant in such a scenario.

A thousand percent.

And if successful, game fans should accept that CoM, Days, and Coded would be skipped (though I don't think anyone wouldn't be upset about this), and other game stories (BBS, DDD, 0.2) could be condensed or omitted.

It'll all be re-written, characters removed, motivations and arcs changed etc etc.

 

[Squood!]

Honestly why do a movie and not just a show ffs.

KH, especially a KH adaptation, fits the mold of an anime/cartoon show better than a film.

 

[Launchpad]

Honestly why do a movie and not just a show ffs.

KH, especially a KH adaptation, fits the mold of an anime/cartoon show better than a film.

There's nothing competitive or profitable about making a show. For how expensive it'd be to produce, a series wouldn't drive too many Disney plus subs, and it'd probably only cater to KH fans who are already dug-in with the series. A movie can be its own whole thing pulling in a broader audience with the promise of crossover action and Disney schmaltz.

 

[MATGSY]

The last part seems to reference Disney’s overall content strategy around adapting video games as that was the point of the original question. So they’re saying a KH movie is in development, but Disney doesn’t plan to start a wider effort to adapt more video games like FF, Fortnite, etc.

That is something that didn't occur to me before: Video game adaptations (that don't suck) is the new big thing with Hollywood atm & Disney needs a new big thing with Marvel & their own films flailing. Makes perfect sense an exec would eye the 1 big video game property they have in their vault to cash in.

Well, aside from KOTOR & a few other Star Wars games anyway.

You'd be surprised how quickly any previously established rules will vanish as soon as Kingdom Hearts is a viable movie where all the Disney characters can appear together, make quips, and have action sequences. The stage is already set for it. Crossover movies are huge. Video game movies are huge. Multiverse stories are huge. Disney will move exactly how they want to.

There's always been the stench of BS when it came to Disney's restrictions. House of Mouse was airing around the same time as KH1 & it didn't have any problem doing whatever it wanted with past Disney characters. & in more recent history we have the princesses in Wreck-it Ralph 2, with C-3PO greeting them.

 

[Squood!]

There's nothing competitive or profitable about making a show. For how expensive it'd be to produce, a series wouldn't drive too many Disney plus subs, and it'd probably only cater to KH fans who are already dug-in with the series. A movie can be its own whole thing pulling in a broader audience with the promise of crossover action and Disney schmaltz.

Eugh...yeah, if that means that I think it means I prolly won't watch it.

 

[Launchpad]

There's always been the stench of BS when it came to Disney's restrictions. House of Mouse was airing around the same time as KH1 & it didn't have any problem doing whatever it wanted with past Disney characters. & in more recent history we have the princesses in Wreck-it Ralph 2, with C-3PO greeting them.

Disney doesn't have any problem at all with their characters intermingling, referencing each other, what have you. I mean.. fucking Disney World, dude, it's all over the place. Their issue with Kingdom Hearts is the high amount of overseas correspondence, if I were to guess. Why spend so much time going back and forth on the particulars of more integrated crossover pieces when it saves so much time to keep all the properties tidy and confined to their own spaces? For the development pipeline, I'm sure it's a lot more convenient.

 

[Luminary]

Honestly why do a movie and not just a show ffs.

KH, especially a KH adaptation, fits the mold of an anime/cartoon show better than a film.

If a film were to be a hit, it could help fund more content for both the theatrical space and Disney+. If they start with the show, the growth potential is pretty limited. I think is the same logic Paramount is using with their revival of the animated Avatar franchise. Start with a film. Then if that’s successful, you expand it into its own cinematic universe across film and tv.

A successful film would also make it more likely for KH to get more of a presence in the Disney parks, which is something fans have wanted to see for a long time.

There are pros and cons whichever way they go. But I wouldn’t be mad at a film if they have to take some creative liberties, but still keep it true to the spirit of the game.

 

[Zettaflare]

I'd prefer a series as well over a film, tbh. There are benefits for a film financially as others have mentioned, but quality wise I'm less confident with a film.

 

[Squood!]

Disney hasn't exactly had a good streak of films lately either...my brain is bein' cynical again and is imagining that they don't actually wanna do a KH movie but rather another "shove all our properties onto the big screen together" movie with a flimsy KH coat of paint.

To make money of course, cuz big capitalist megacorp want the cash.

 

[Launchpad]

I'm not too concerned because my hopes aren't that high either way, lol. The je nais se quois of Kingdom Hearts is the first-hand player experience of traveling to Disney worlds, fighting the bad guys, and hanging out with Donald Duck. Strip that interactivity away, and you've stripped away my personal investment anyway. The movie/show is just a thing to watch and then walk away from, knowing it has no bearing on the experiences that hold the most value to me.

People become too inundated in takes, discourse, what isn't in the movie, the movie being typical corny modern Disney shit... I can definitely understand and empathize with people not wanting this movie to bastardize their baby, but it's not like it'll overwrite whatever your favorite KH game is. I just think it'd do you all some good to make peace with the possibility that Xion, Eraqus, Urd, and Nameless Star will be omitted and unmentioned in the flick.

 

[Phoenix]

I'm not too concerned because my hopes aren't that high either way, lol. The je nais se quois of Kingdom Hearts is the first-hand player experience of traveling to Disney worlds, fighting the bad guys, and hanging out with Donald Duck. Strip that interactivity away, and you've stripped away my personal investment anyway. The movie/show is just a thing to watch and then walk away from, knowing it has no bearing on the experiences that hold the most value to me.

People become too inundated in takes, discourse, what isn't in the movie, the movie being typical corny modern Disney shit... I can definitely understand and empathize with people not wanting this movie to bastardize their baby, but it's not like it'll overwrite whatever your favorite KH game is. I just think it'd do you all some good to make peace with the possibility that Xion, Eraqus, Urd, and Nameless Star will be omitted and unmentioned in the flick.

That's a good point. I want to say I'm not likely to like any KH adaptation into a non video game video, but honestly... I don't think I'd like any adaptation for any series I'm a fan of. I have no interest in the LoZ movie, had no interest in the Warcraft movie, would have no interest in a Fire Emblem movie, Mass Effect movie, etc. The only exception are properties where I'm already engaged with multiple things at the same time, like liking the Pokemon games and anime at the same time, or the galaxy that is the Sonic franchise.

So hopefully if it does end up happening, it's full of soul and charm and somebody likes it. And hey, if it's aimed at little kids, I might watch it with my daughter!

(I don't have any faith that Disney can give it any soul because I don't think Disney likes KH, but maybe that's my cynicism talking)

 

[Squood!]

I prolly won't watch it if my worries prove true and it is just "Disney Avengers but Disney" with Sora stapled onto it.

 

[Antifa Lockhart]

Given how much Disney seems to fear/respect Tetsuya Nomura, the most likely thing -- in my mind -- that could get past the development phase is an original feature-length film like Kingsglaive or Advent Children that has a very limited theatrical release. Something done for promotion and prestige that will never be expected to break bank like Mario did.

You'd be surprised how easy it would be to theatrically release it on a small scale but I'm not at all confident that it would do well. Still -- the concerts seem to do well, the games do well. It really is up in the air.

 

[Squood!]

The implication that Disney fears Nomura is funny to me

 

[MATGSY]

It's going to be wild when they add a KH world to KH5!

 

[Zackarix]

The idea of having a theatrical movie feels like a double-edged sword to me.

On one hand, if it's a movie in theaters there's no way that it's just a limited thing that Disney won't pay much attention to. They were terrified of crossovers for so long, there's no way they would allow the first crossover-focused Disney movie to be something that SE does on the down-low. There are expectations and standards for Disney animated movies, Disney's first big crossover not meeting them would be unacceptable.

But on the other hand, Kingdom Hearts games have a successful formula of being episodic. To the point where it's kind of crazy to even consider doing a movie over a series. Exploring new worlds is a core part of the series identity, but a movie's runtime would only allow for either a few minutes in each world, or only a few worlds. It would be a really difficult balance to strike.

I suspect that this was inspired by the recent trend of actually good video game movies (especially Mario) and the positive reception of the Princess crossover in Ralph Breaks the Internet.

 

[bambii]

I.... have a bad feeling about this, lol. If it really is something Disney is treating as a big theatrical release, I have a hard time imagining it'd be something they'd see eye-to-eye with Nomura and CBU1 on. Kinda makes me wonder if this could be what last year's notorious “there was something that happened that determined the direction of the KH series" Nomura comment was about. Unless Nomura is sold on the Super Mario/Sonic-ification of the franchise for the sake of a family friendly blockbuster movie adaptation to draw in a fresh audience for KH4..... who knows.

This whole thing is really driving home how badly we are in need of something official KH news-wise, though. I've always been more of an optimist about the series and even I'm finding my confidence somewhat shaken of late about the franchise's future. I'm sure all that will disappear once I see a new KH4 trailer.

 

[Squood!]

I.... have a bad feeling about this, lol. If it really is something Disney is treating as a big theatrical release, I have a hard time imagining it'd be something they'd see eye-to-eye with Nomura and CBU1 on. Kinda makes me wonder if this could be what last year's notorious “there was something that happened that determined the direction of the KH series" Nomura comment was about. Unless Nomura is sold on the Super Mario/Sonic-ification of the franchise for the sake of a family friendly blockbuster movie adaptation to draw in a fresh audience for KH4..... who knows.

This whole thing is really driving home how badly we are in need of something official KH news-wise, though. I've always been more of an optimist about the series and even I'm finding my confidence somewhat shaken of late about the franchise's future. I'm sure all that will disappear once I see a new KH4 trailer.

Not to mention that even Nomura himself has trouble thinking of how a legitimate KH movie would work/be handled.