Expectations are high for upcoming sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2, after the opener went down in the history books as one of the most successful video game adaptations ever made.
Not only did it haul in $319 million at the box office on a budget estimated to be around $90 million, but it became the highest-grossing console-to-screen translation ever released in the United States.
Jeff Fowler’s live-action/CGI hybrid would have no doubt flown even higher had the pandemic not come along little over a month after the blue speedster sprinted into theaters, while Sonic the Hedgehog is one of just three efforts in the genre’s history to wind up with a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The various trailers and TV spots have set up a bigger, bolder, and altogether brasher second installment, with Ben Schwartz continuing to add more fuel to the fires of anticipation during a recent interview with Collider.
“The second movie is just epic. It’s huge, it’s big, it’s enormous, it’s exciting, it’s what happens when your first movie does well, you get to make an even bigger one for your second one. It’s exciting, it’s a big old studio movie, so I’m really excited for people to see it. The expansion of the world comes in our characters. There is Tails now. There is Knuckles now. And Jim (Carrey) is on point of course. It’s really good and it’s epic and I’m so excited for people to see it cause it’s awesome.”
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is only a few weeks away from landing on the big screen, but you can guarantee we’ll be seeing plenty more from the movie before April 8, and it’s got a real shot at faring even better than its predecessor when you consider how franchise fare continues to ignore the extended COVID-era downturn to continually bring in big bucks.