Advent Children Screening... IN HOLLYWOOD!

[Strider]

Yeah, so I just got an e-mail from Square-Enix, so if any Los Angelinos wanna check out the movie on the big screen, here's your chance. (Following info is from the e-mail)

We are excited to announce a special screening of FINAL FANTASY VII: ADVENT CHILDREN at the ArcLight Cinemas (www.arclightcinemas.com) at 6360 W. Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, California, at 7:00PM on Monday, April 3rd. The screening is open to the public, so don't miss this one and only chance to see the long-awaited film in high definition on the big screen weeks ahead of the April 25th launch of the DVD and UMD video.

The screening will take place at the Cinerama Dome, the signature marquee on Sunset Boulevard which seats over 800 people and has been host to four decades of premieres and blockbusters. Guaranteed admission to the screening will be handed out at noon in front of the Dome while supplies last. Any additional open seats will be distributed at the time of the screening, but we strongly recommend trying to secure a seat at noon to be guaranteed entry.

Key production staff and cast are scheduled for appearance following the screening, so don't miss this chance to get up close and personal to the people involved in bringing this ambitious project to life!

This screening is complementary and tickets will not be for sale at the event. Only one guaranteed admission will be provided to each person at noon while supplies last. Any kind of recording device is strictly prohibited.

[Miriel]

Free movie, at the freakin' ArcLight theater? I'll be there.

I wish I had someone to go with though. :(

[Strider]

I was thinking I might just go down there to see it, actually, if only for EoFF's sake.

[Necronopticous]

I'll go with your Miriel.

[thecapn]

ArcLight cinemas is such a GREAT theater. it's HUGE! They have huge stadium-style seats, where every seat is the BEST seat, (Even in the first row, the screen is as far away from the first row as the screen is tall), they have their own gift shop, they have their own cafe with a PIANO BAR! oh man that place was great. I drove up from san diego to see the first midnight screenings of RENT at the arclight, and oh man the theater was better than the movie. haha

[Mirage]

Wish I could go. It's just a bit too far...

[Necronopticous]

Or perhaps you are just a bit too incompetent as a Final Fantasy fan!

[Tifa's Real Lover(really]

wow......just......wow

[TheAbominatrix]

If you guys go, we may as well make it a meeting. I wouldnt go otherwise, but I'll go to hang out with you guys.

[Necronopticous]

I'll be there regardless, I wouldn't miss this for anything I can think of. I hope to see you all there, a meeting sounds good!

[TheAbominatrix]

We'll have to make sure to get there really really early. I mean, way before noon. It's gonna be a circus, I wouldnt doubt.

[Necronopticous]

I'm already there.

[Shoden]

Teleport!!!!!!!!

Damn if only it had a worldwide cinema release!

[-N-]

Why did this happen when I am abroad. :\

[Necronopticous]

You could always fly out for it ;D!

[cloud_doll]

So, you mean on noon of april 3rd you get in?
(and i'm all up for a meeting, I dont want to go by myself!)

[Miriel]

How can anyone pass up a chance to see a movie at the ArcLight theater? That place is a cinephile's dream theater. It's practically orgasmic.


So, you mean on noon of april 3rd you get in?
(and i'm all up for a meeting, I dont want to go by myself!)
I think tickets are passed out at noon, and then the actual showing for AC is at 7PM.

[Vyk]

That's the call we've been waiting for? What a let-down. They better have other things in mind to make up for the BS

[Miriel]

Too bad this thing is on a Monday. Otherwise I would have tried to drag Del Murder down to SoCal to go see this with me. :greenie:

[Strider]

Is it a Monday, isn't it...

HOLY CRAP, I DON'T WORK MONDAYS. :D

[Fatal Impurity]

its not fair!!!! im poor....this would be the ultimate cristmas and birthday present!!!

[cloud20747]

why not in MARYLAND???!!!!! but then again if it was one on the east coast it would be in /xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gifty new york...

[TheAbominatrix]

Why not in the middle of a random field somewhere, where no one is or will ever be!?

Really. It's Hollywood. Not only is SE stationed on the west coast and thus close it it, but Hollywood is the mecca of films. It's the only logical place in America to do it. New York would be a very close second, however.

[Strider]

How long do you think it'd take to get from here to Hollywood on a Monday morning?

[Miriel]

How long do you think it'd take to get from here to Hollywood on a Monday morning?
On a Monday? 4 hours.

[Strider]

Eesh, that's an 8 AM start to get there by noon...

But now that I know I don't work, I'm sorely tempted to go.

[Kadaj of SHM]

I dont understand why this movie wasnt released in the cinema in the first place. It would have been nice to go to the cinema one night and watch this film for the first time in a cinema, with the big screen and surrond sound.

Still cant complian at least its released in LA which is millions of miles from where i am. AGHHHHHHHH. just letting a little anger out.

i feel that this movie wont get the world recognition that it will diserve and thinking about it gets me really angry. I want square Enix to compete with the likes of 'finding nemo' 'Shrek' 'Ice Age'. Dont get me wrong i love them movies, but i feel square enix can knock them out of the water.

I wonder also will they ever carry this on and make more Final Fantasy movies like FF VIII......or other stories which would involve CGI!!:moomba:

[Strider]

Okay, so do we really wanna make this into an impromptu meetup? After further review, I'd be willing to go down to Los Angeles for this.

[Shiny]

Hollywood. That sucks, they should do a screening in other areas too if this turns out well. Which it should.

[Miriel]

I dont understand why this movie wasnt released in the cinema in the first place. It would have been nice to go to the cinema one night and watch this film for the first time in a cinema, with the big screen and surrond sound.

Because Squeenix would have lost tons of money if they had tried to distribute this movie in theaters. Even the Shaggy Dog would have had better sales numbers than AC.

[Kadaj of SHM]

I get it, so really evryone would prefer to go see shaggy dog than AC. I understand though Squeenix were playing it safe to just release straight on DVD/UMD.

I hope they make more movies, they cant just leave us hanging on just AC. I worry that im gonna get bored of AC. Ive watched it some many times now.

Thanks anyway Miriel.

[Necronopticous]

Alright I've got my Monday all planned out for me, finally. I'll be leaving my house at 6:00 AM and picking up a friend from class (I noticed she had an Advent Children wallpaper on her laptop, go figure.) I plan to arrive at her house at around 7:00 AM and it's a 30 minute drive from there to the Arclight. Everything accounted for I should be showing up at about 7:30 AM. Whoever is going should aim to get here at this time, I figure 7:30-8:00 is probably a good start to ensure that we'll get seats. I expect there to be lots of scalpers waking up early so they can sell their guaranteed seats...unless they come up with a way to do this without tickets. Guest list? names? I don't know. Regardless, I'll be showing up at 7:30 or so like I said, I hope to see all of you there. If anyone lives at least mildly between West Hollywood and Rancho Cucamonga and needs a ride just let me know so I can adjust my schedule. All of my softcore Final Fantasy friends cancelled out on me when I told them they'd have to get up at 6:00 AM so I've got an empty car beside my friend from class.

[Strider]

At that point, I'd probably be better off leaving Sunday night. x_X

[Miriel]

7:30?!

I don't even go to sleep until 4-ish. <_<

[Necronopticous]

Considering the fact that they're going to hand out the guaranteed seating AT 12:00 I can't imagine getting there any later.

[Miriel]

If there's a line, couldn't you just let me cut when I arrive there at 11:50-ish? :D?

Or will the nerds attack me?

[Necronopticous]

I won't let you cut, as I doubt that will even be easily possible given the fact that for every person that cuts, the person who was 800th in line loses their seat. However, I will allow you to call me when you're planning on coming and I'll tell you if it's worth coming at that point or not, based on what the line looks like. 760.680.9041

Honestly, if you can't go to bed and wake up early one day in your life to see a once-in-a-lifetime U.S. theatrical showing of Advent Children for free then I never want to hear you call yourself a Final Fantasy fan!

[Xaven]

Getting up early is fun. :(

This sounds like something I'd love to do, but I have school tomorrow. I know I could easily pressure my dad into letting my stay home because of my cold/cough/flu thingy, but he'd be home at six, notice me gone, and call the police/army/president in panic.

I have a couple options for rides there including my sister and her boyfriend, my brother, or you Necro. (You'd only have to swing down to Chino) Still, I have school/my dad and stepmother to worry about. Oh well, it'd be really nice to do, but doesn't seem like it'll be happening.

[Necronopticous]

It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, maybe you could just tell him what it is and hope he understands how important it is to you. I would be willing to pick you up as I have one extra seat in my car, just let me know in advance if you talk him into it. 760.680.9041

[Xaven]

Well, it's not exactly important to me, but it does sound fun. I scmited the idea of asking if you could give me a ride, because he'd ban me from technology for even considering getting a ride with someone from the internet. Anyway, I just texted by sister's boyfriend to see if he's interested, because this seems like stuff he'd like to do. I'll edit this post later with the results.

[Necronopticous]

If the one and only Advent Children showing in the western world isn't important to you then you don't deserve to go!

[Xaven]

If the one and only Advent Children showing in the western world isn't important to you then you don't deserve to go!
What about the eastern world?

[Necronopticous]

There was a couple showings, as I understand.

[Xaven]

Anyway, I talked to my dad and he's completely firm on "no." He says it's not worth it to miss a day of school despite something like this never happening again.

[Necronopticous]

I'm out of here. Shabu Shabu House and Advent Children at the Arclight all in one day, I wish you were here.

Life is good.

[Dreddz]

Hmmm, any chance of it screening in my Local........Oh Ill answer this...No :(

[Miriel]

Hope you're having fun Necronopticous. :)

[Necronopticous]

Okay, so I skipped class today because I didn't get much sleep again last night. Let's see, where to start?

Well, first I'd just like to say that you're all a bunch of pansies, and you made our message board look terrible! There was lots of forums meetings there, (adventchildren.net, Unofficial Final Fantasy site, etc.) and of course I was the only one from Eyes on Final Fantasy who actually showed up. It was a priceless day that I will remember for the rest of my life and for all of you who ditched it to get a few extra hours of sleep I hope you forever regret it after reading my recap.

Well, before the day of the show yesterday you guys weren't the only ones to cancel out on me. I had planned on having a full car and possibly asking another friend to drive because I had some of my not-so-hardcore Final Fantasy fan friends coming, however when I told them that we'd have to line up hours before 12:00 noon, rather than AT 12:00 noon they almost all cancelled out. The only friend that didn't cancel out on me had a random photography job pop up in New York so he left as well. Needless to say I was pretty dissapointed since I go to Square events alone far too often! Anyway, in the couple of days before I managed to meet a girl, Diana, in my Computer Logic class that had an Advent Children wallpaper and offered her a ride to the show, which she accepted, and I also talked my friend Aaron into coming along after we saw Slither together one of the nights preceeding the 3rd. With at least a couple companions for the day I was pleased and excited again.

Aaron got to my house punctually at 6:00 AM like we planned and we took off not more than ten or fifteen minutes later after packing our jackets, umbrellas, and handheld consoles in my backseat. From there we headed for South Gate to pick up Diana and the traffic was surprisingly bad, with hundreds of commuters driving into the Los Angeles area. We picked up Diana at around 7:30 and pulled into the Arclight parking structure about 45 minutes after that. When we arrived there was probably only roughly fifty or sixty people in line, the first being an old friend of mine from high school. We talked for a few minutes and discovered that he had been waiting since about 2:00 AM. When we got in line we were directly on the corner between the Arclight and Amoeba Records. As you can probably guess, Aaron, Diana, and I didn't waste much time to start playing some competitive Mario Kart DS. We were quickly joined by a few others waiting in line as every person there was inherently a huge dork. It was great and the time up until 12:00 noon really flew by. The best thing that kept happening is that snobby Hollywood locals kept rolling down their windows at the stop sign to pull onto Sunset and asking us "What are you guys waiting in line for?" Obviously 'Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children' doesn't mean a thing to any of these people so I was telling people, "It's just a video-game movie." This produced some stunningly hilarious results, such as one woman cocking her head back in disbelief and yelling, "YOU'RE WAITING OUT HERE FOR A VIDEO GAME?!" and promptly pulling away in disgust. Most people just rolled up their windows when they heard the words 'Final Fantasy' or 'videogame,' it was excellent.

At 12:00 (actually a few minutes before) they started filing the line forward and handing out the wristbands which were pinkish/silver with stars <3. They told us that we didn't have to wait in line and encouraged us to basically do something else until they handed out tickets at 6:00 PM. Aaron and Diana had never tried Shabu Shabu, so I decided to take them to Little Tokyo and we had a fun and delicious time! Unfortunately Shabu Shabu House was closed, as that is the best Shabu Shabu place in town. No worries, we got nikumans for a snack as we walked to Zakuro which is quite a quality shabu shabu place. We all got large extra-lean beef portions and they both ended up really enjoying it. After that we went for boba smoothies in J-town and pastry desserts at Via Dulce across the street. We still had quite a bit of time to kill so we went in a few shops, including a wonderful Japanese punk-rock store where I bought a fat pig lighter with dual-flames that shoot from his nostrils which is arguably the best $5.00 I've ever spent in my life.

We decided to head back to the Arclight around 3:00 or so after loading up on mystery Japanese candy with cute mascots on the wrappers from the Japanese supermarket in J-town. When we got back the line had already began again and we were actually further back than the first time, but just by a few dozen feet or so. Both times we were in line it rained on and off but thankfully never started pouring or anything, we were safe as we had umbrellas. During this 3 hour stretch we met a few really awesome people in front of us and directly behind us in the line. My favorite person was Katie from Unofficial Final Fantasy Site forums behind us, she helped us realize that one of the Japanese candies we were eating were cough drops. I was extremely excited to meet her as I generally can never meet people at Square-Enix events that are both big fans of a wide variety of the series and even mildly socially competent at the same time. We talked for a long time and she played the Advent Children soundtrack on her iPod with a set of portable speakers. It was a great time until we found out that she had gotten there just a few minutes after 12:00 earlier in the day and they refused to give her a wristband! Luckily the parents of the girls ahead of us who were obviously apathetic toward the event offered her their ticket when the guy handed them out, I was glad that she did not miss out because she certainly deserved to see the movie more than most of the turnouts.

At some point between the time we lined up that second time and the time that they gave us our tickets a company truck from the Monster Energy Drink company pulled up alongside the line and started handing out free ice-cold drinks to everyone waiting. I didn't drink one, but I thought the offer was awesome. It was extremely depressing, however, how filthy and disrespectful most of the fans were, leaving their food wrappers from Jack in the Box across the street and 70% of the Monster cans just laying all up and down the sidewalk like a bunch of slobs.

At 6:00 they sent a group of guys down the line cutting off wristbands and handing out tickets to everyone who had one and shortly after began letting us into the UN Dome to take our seats. Aaron, Diana, Katie, our other new friends and I got front row center seats, undoubtedly the best seats in the theatre. After the theatre filled up we still had about 20 minutes to kill before the actual showing at 7:00, so of course the DSes started up again and probably 60% of the people in there were in an 8-player Mario Kart match for the next 20 minutes.

As 7:00 approached, the crowd of dorks filling the Arclight's UN Dome grew increasingly impatient and excited, cheering for everything that happened, but especially when some of the cast and crew filed in in front row of the upper level, including the likes of Tetsuya Nomura who was dressed up in his grungey Japanese rocker look as usual. Many people rushed to get autographs.

Just after 7:00 the spotlight came on and everyone cheered again and again, the first guy to go in front of the spotlight raised his hand to quell the cheers and everyone listened on eagerly as he says "I'm just looking for a seat."

Soon after the ACTUAL presenter came on, introducing what to expect for the night, including Square-Enix trailers, the Advent Children screening, Cast and Crew introductions, and finally prizes.

The lights faded away and the curtains folded back from the screen everyone gave a roaring cheer, I hope that everyone was excited as me! They showed two trailers before Advent Children. The first was an extremely long Kingdom Hearts II trailer, at which fangirls screamed in delight every time a familiar blonde or silver-haired hero or villain flashed on the screen. All I could think when watching this trailer was "Been there, done that." and "Wow, it would be sweet to play Kingdom Hearts II on this screen." Next we were treated to the lengthy Dirge of Cerberus trailer with professionally handled English subtitles that was enjoyable and anxiety-inducing.

Finally after all the waiting the screen and theatre went black for a long time, and the familiar introduction graced the theatre. For the next hour and a half we experienced the first public look and listen to the English dub version of Advent Children and I'll be the first to say here that I believe it is wonderfully and masterfully done. The thing that surprised me the most is that the lipsynching WAS NOT CHANGED to match the English voices. It doesn't detract from the quality of the film, however, after this incredibly long delay in the North American release I was blown away to learn that this wasn't what they were working on. As far as the English cast goes, it was nearly flawless. There were some voices I even preferred over the Japanese voice cast, such as Kadaj's whole group and Denzel. The writers for the dubbed lines were extremely skilled and Square-Enix brand, many English in-phrases and common mild slang made the dialogue feel extremely natural and flowing. Such lines as Cloud's "I feel lighter... Maybe I lost some weight. Must have been all that 'Dilly-dallying.'" And yes, for those of you who want to know, Tifa's infamous "Zuruzuru zuruzuru" has been translated as "Dilly-dally shilly-shally." Another respectible aspect of the dialogue was the use of mildly foul language that was semi-often but not overwhelming, definately reminiscent of Final Fanatasy VII. Most surprising was probably Denzel's outburst at Bahamut, "You son of a bitch!" to which the whole theatre joined together in a sibling-like "Ooooooh!" I could go on all day about how great the dub was handled but I'll just leave it at this and you guys can all pick up the DVD and/or UMD at the end of the month to find out for yourselves.

After both sets of credits rolled the curtain closed (a bit prematurely!) and the spotlight shone once again. With this the presenter invited the cast and crew members who were present to come up to the front of the theatre, they were greeted with applause from the audience. The developers didn't have much to say beside a general thank you to the fans and supporters of the film and screening, with a personally touching comment about how grateful that we all waited in the rain for the screening. I felt bad for the english cast members, Steve Burton, Rachel Leigh Cook, and Mena Suvari, as they had very clearly not been told beforehand that they were going to be speaking. "Say something? Really? Uh..okay." Steve Burton starting out with "Well first of all I just want to say that that was awesome!" and going on to comment about how he didn't know how cool of a character he was until seeing the film screening. Rachel Leigh Cook and Mena Suvari basically said the same thing "Uh, thanks for letting me be a part of this." Tetsuya Nomura went on to say something along the lines of "I have seen this film well over 1,000 times, and this time actually managed to be special for me."

After the cast and crew introduced themselves they stood on as the presenter invited the audience to look under their seats for a piece of paper taped on with either a star or check-mark, of which there were a total of 8 check marks and 2 stars in the theatre. The fans in these seats were brought up to the front to be presented with a gift bag of prizes from Tetsuya Nomura. As I didn't win a gift bag I don't know exactly what was in it, but from what I remember the check marks got a bunch of PSP accessories, an Advent Children calendar only available in Japan, and a program from the Japanese Advent Children showing signed by Nomura-San. The lucky fans with stars received this gift bag as well as an additional silver bag that contained a brand-new PSP system with games. For some reason only 9 of the 10 winners came up to claim their prize, so the presenter had Tetsuya choose a row and seat number for the tenth winner. Not so surprisingly, Nomura-san chose row FF, seat 7.

This concluded the evening, aside from the fans who ambushed the English voice actors and actresses once again for autographs. In the foyer there was two tables giving out a free poster and black bag containing a Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Original Soundtrack. I managed to snag three before leaving the theatre!

We said goodbye to our new friends and headed home. The end of a great day that will forever remain in my heart!

P.S. Diana took pictures, as soon as she e-mails me them I will post them in this thread.

P.P.S. Barret's last line in the film may go down as the best line in history, with "That's some crazy-ass water!"

[Miriel]

I'll pansy your FACE. :aimmad:

While you were watching a Final Fantasy movie, I changed my major, decided which Grad school I'm going to, decided which business cards to get made for my photography company, and toured my new apartment for the coming fall that I get to live in rent free.

But I'm glad you had fun. :D

[Necronopticous]

PICTURES (http://www.JEREMYTIME/upload/ac040306)

[Xaven]

:cry: This is so not fair, I wanted to go! I missed school anyways!

Your description of it all makes me even more sad. Next time something big like this happens, I better be old enough to drive so I can take myself.


Aaron and Diana had never tried Shabu Shabu, ...
BLASPHEMY.

By the way, you have long thumbnails.

[Necronopticous]

Diana was holding Mr. Porkflame, my thumbnails are normal length.

[Blitz Ace]

that must have been the best day ever!!! i wish they did somethin like that in australia... ha fat chance. i enjoyed reading ur description Necronopticous - i am now very jealous.

im glad to hear that the voice acting is good, my biggest fear was that it would screw up the movie... but why didnt they change the lip-sync??? they had plently of time to!