Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet is an often overlooked Disney movie, becoming something of a cult hit over the years. The film had an enormous budget of $140 million, which it just couldn’t live up to after drawing in roughly $110 million in its box office run. Treasure Planet is actually a pretty straight adaptation of Treasure Island, putting a spin on the classic story by making it an intergalactic tale with aliens, fantastic planets, and more.
The film follows a young Jim Hawkins who’s enamored with stories of the famed pirate Captain Nathaniel Flint, who can appear out of nowhere to raid ships and disappear just as quickly. Treasure Planet’s imaginative universe and gorgeous animation made for some truly breathtaking scenes, and considering the planet-based structure of Kingdom Hearts, it’d fit right in.
There doesn’t even need to be a Treasure Planet world, per say, but it could function much like Monstro did in the first game, as something you run into during your journey aboard the Gummi Ship. Maybe Sora and the gang happen upon a battle between two ships, having to assist Jim Hawkins and crew. This isn’t to say that a Treasure Planet world wouldn’t be good, but there’s a ton of options for how you can introduce the film into Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts will always, of course, be focused on the big Disney properties but it’s always nice to see a few nods to smaller, fan favorite properties as well.