There looks to be a major push inKingdom Hearts’ future, and not just through new games.Kingdom Hearts Missing-Linkis proceeding through its public tests and still sports a release window set for later in 2024. It’s also possible thatKingdom Hearts 4could re-emerge soon, with a recent rumor claiming the game is slated for 2025. All of that sounds exciting after years of minimal news, but the rumor mill didn’t stop there.Kingdom Heartsallegedly has a movie in early production, and that’s a big deal for a joint Square Enix and Disney property.
Alleged news aboutKingdom Hearts' movie, as well asKH4’s possible launch year, came from the Patreon of Twitter user DanielRPK. Daniel is a fairly reliable source and with other leakers corroborating this information it seems thatKingdom Heartshas a chance at being greenlit for the big screen. Assuming it’s legitimate and nothing halts its production, the film is expected tosmartly embody a live-action/animated hybridin the vein ofWho Framed Roger RabbitandSpace Jam, though likely with modern Disney CGI instead of traditional animation. That sounds promising, but any adaptation ofKingdom Heartsis bound to struggle with its most prominent quirks.
Kingdom Hearts Is Hard To Fit Into A Movie
At first,Kingdom Heartswas a straightforward romp through various Disney worlds, spent fighting back the forces of darkness and searching for Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s missing friends. Since then, theKingdom Heartsseries has branched out through multiple conspiraciesimpacting and facilitated by several casts’ worth of characters, introducing a lot of new context for its old games in the process. Fans are now aware that incorporeal time travel, body-hopping, impersonation, the entirety ofKingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage, and the beginning ofKingdom Hearts 358/2 Dayswere all happening concurrently withKH1, and that’s a lot to take in.
Increasing Complexity Makes Kingdom Hearts Resistant To New Adaptations
One of the most common complaints aboutKingdom Heartsas a whole is that each new entry seems intent on recontextualizing details from past games while teasing future ones, building a convoluted web that can be hard to track.
ManyKingdom Heartsentries released on different consolesdidn’t help the issue, though the modernKingdom Hearts: The Story So Farcollection has addressed that. It’s not an insurmountable problem, andKingdom Hearts 4’s soft setting reset may help, but that won’t be much help to a movie trying to adapt the completed Dark Seeker Saga.
Kingdom Hearts’ Concept Is Better Suited To Long-Form Narrative
Even if theKingdom Heartsfilm limits itself to the original game with only the slightest nods to anything else, there’s still a lot of material to adapt.Kingdom Heartsis known for condensing multiple Disney films into its various worlds, and a film trying to tell its story can’t ignore them completely.
Adapting anyKHgame or trying something original like aHarry Potter-inspired Keyblade Academy would need to include a lot of Disney andSquare Enix representation to be authenticallyKingdom Hearts. That’s not even getting into the film finding time for even vague coverage of commonKingdom Heartsconcepts, like hearts, Keyblades, Gummi Ships, and so on.
A Kingdom Hearts Show Could Have Conveyed It Better
If it sounds like a TV show would be a better fit forKingdom Heartsthan a two-hour movie, that’s because it probably would, and has been attempted before. Not only is there a leaked animatic for anearly 2000s Disney-animatedKingdom Heartspilot, but according to some leaks, the rumoredKingdom Heartsmovie also started its life as a series.
Why it assumed a cinematic form is anyone’s guess, as the rise of video game movies has been accompanied by successful shows as well. Regardless, aKingdom Heartsfilm accomplishing what it needs to within the constraints of its format will be fascinating to watch, assuming it can make any headway at all.
