The knives were out for Sonic the Hedgehog when the terrifying design for the title character was first revealed, leading many to predict that it would be the latest in a long line of video game adaptations to bomb at the box office. Thankfully, the studio took the criticism on board and embarked on a costly redesign of the speedy little critter, with his final look much closer to what the fans were expecting.
With everyone a lot happier, Sonic was unleashed into theaters earlier this year and continued the recent renaissance of the video game movie, becoming just the second entry in the genre after Detective Pikachu to secure a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes while also racing to $308 million at the box office, a total that would have no doubt been much higher had the Coronavirus pandemic not decimated the industry a little over a month after it was released.
A sequel has officially been announced, one that will presumably pick up where one of the post-credits scenes left off and introduce Tails into the mix, but insider Daniel Richtman now claims that Paramount are also considering the idea of giving Jim Carrey’s Doctor Robotnik his own spinoff. The rubber-faced funnyman channeled his 1990s heyday with a scenery-devouring performance that was the undoubted highlight of the movie, and the second stinger teased a much more video game accurate appearance in the sequel.
However, a Robotnik spinoff that doesn’t involve Sonic would be a much harder sell to casual audiences, even with a big name like Jim Carrey attached. It makes a lot more sense to have him as a recurring villain in the franchise rather than giving him his own film, but having struck gold with the first installment, the studio might be intending to throw their weight behind an entire Sonic the Hedgehog cinematic universe now.
