Report: US <i>Advent Children</i> in 2006

To say that Final Fantasy fans are hardcore may be a bit of an understatement. Square Enix's role-playing franchise has kept its legions of fans enraptured in its complex plotlines since the series debuted in 1987. The problem is that the stories are sometimes interrupted by gameplay. Fans who would rather not replenish their mana or wait for their turn to attack were pleased to hear of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, a movie set in the universe of one of the most popular Final Fantasy games.

The final cut of the movie made its way into theaters...in Venice, Italy, as part of the Venice Film Festival. Then the public got a look at the movie...in Japan. Both a DVD and a UMD were eventually released in Japan, leaving American FF fans watching imported versions and flipping furiously through Japanese-to-English dictionaries.

Final Fantasy aficionados on this side of the pond may finally get their chance to see Advent Children. On the DVD site The Digital Bits, a post states that Sony is trying to get the film released on DVD before the end of 2006.

According to the author, "It's taking a little extra time to work with the director to get all the supplemental elements finished, but the title is on track for release sometime later this year." Mike Stradford, an executive at Sony's DVD division, is cited as the source of information.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Japan on both DVD and UMD. For more information on the film, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.