If you stopped me in the street nine months ago and told me that the new Sonic the Hedgehog movie was going to be a runaway box office hit, I would have – for your own personal safety – probably had you committed.
That being said, here we are, just a few days following the film’s cinematic release, and the blue-haired hedgehog’s live-action debut has not only been lavished with positive praise from both critics and the general audience, but also boasts one of the biggest domestic openings for a video game adaptation to date. No small feat, indeed.
Of course, thanks to the fan backlash over Sonic’s original design in the initial trailer, I was adamant that Paramount would never quite nail the landing for the Blue Blur’s silver screen debut. I mean, video game-to-movie adaptations don’t exactly have the best record, right? Well, I guess it’s time for me to eat some humble pie. Sorry, Sonic!
In any case, before the movie officially premiered, it’s interesting to note that Dr. Robotnik himself, Jim Carrey, thought that the fan backlash to Sonic’s original design in the initial trailer actually turned out to be a great thing for the movie as a whole. Here’s what Carrey had to say in a recent interview with Fox News:
I think it turned out to be a great thing. I think it turned out to be a co-op where everybody was in on the creation. I think everybody felt good about it ultimately because [director] Jeff Fowler [had] no ego involved at all. He just went, ‘These people grew up with it, and it’s important to them that we get it right.’ And I think it was just a much better movie because of it.
Frankly, I’m really pleased that the studio listened to fan feedback and went back to the drawing board with Sonic’s overall design. Clearly, the newer, more faithful representation of the Blue Blur is way more charming than the first eerily-too-lifelike take that the fans were up in arms with. Ultimately, though, I’m just happy to see a video game adaptation do well at the box office, as hopefully that means there’ll be more of them in the future. Personally, I’m kind of a sucker for video game adaptations.
But how about you? Have you managed to catch Sonic The Hedgehog at the cinema yet? Or are you going to give it a miss? Grab some gold, shiny rings and race down to the comments section down below to let us know.