Sonic the Hedgehog had a rocky 2019, with the film dominating headlines for its frankly horrific CGI redesign of the blue blur. But, to Paramount’s credit, they paid attention to fans’ displeasure, reworked Sonic and delayed the pic a few months. This was clearly the right thing to do, too, as it’s made $306 million worldwide and boasts an impressive 93% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
One of the few criticisms that fans had was that the film almost exclusively featured Sonic and Dr. Robotnik, and not any of the extensive supporting cast from the games. But, right at the end came a tease that more was in store, with Sonic’s perennial sidekick Miles “Tails” Prower appearing. He was only on screen for a few seconds, but was still one of the most popular things in the movie.
Director Jeff Fowler spoke about audience reactions to Tails in a recent interview with SYFY Wire and hinted that he’ll play a big part in the sequel:
“Of all the screenings that I would pop in for, seeing people’s reaction to Tails showing up at the end … nothing could have prepared me! To see people respond and having these kids just shout at the screen, and just yell their little brains out. I just never got sick of it. I just loved it. And the idea that we made this whole movie, and we didn’t have a single scene of Sonic and Tails together. It’s incredible, but it also is so exciting [for a sequel].”
But why stop at Tails when it comes to other Sonic the Hedgehog characters? We’ve already heard rumors about Knuckles the Echidna making an appearance and there’s also a vast range of delightful anthropomorphic animals just waiting to be brought to the screen. What about luminaries like Shadow the Hedgehog, Charmy the Bee, Vector the Crocodile, Rogue the Bat, Michael the Platypus or Bean the Dynamite?
If Sega and Paramount set their minds to it, we could even see a full-on Mobius Cinematic Universe. Though they may have to work on that acronym.
