How a $5 million fix turned Paramount Pictures' 'Sonic' into a billion-dollar franchise
Sonic the Hedgehog may be able to run faster than the speed of light, but his film franchise nearly came to a screaming halt in 2019.
Sonic the Hedgehog may be able to run faster than the speed of light, but his film franchise nearly came to a screaming halt in 2019.
A less-than-three-minute trailer released early that year to tease the film’s release, which was just six months away, was widely panned by fans who took to social media to rail against Paramount’s character design. Dubbed “Ugly Sonic,” the blue creature that appeared on film was a far cry from the iconic video game speedster.
Cinematic Sonic, version 1, had more realistic facial features, including human-like teeth, and his body proportions were deemed inconsistent with the character fans grew up with in the ’90s.
“The trailer goes out, and I think it became the most viewed trailer in the history of Paramount Pictures. Which is amazing,” said Toby Ascher, who acquired the rights to Sonic and produced the film franchise. “The only problem was that 90% of people hated the trailer because of the design of Sonic.”
“All of a sudden we went from trying really, really hard to make a really, really faithful video game adaptation to being next in line of the people who had ruined video games for everyone. It just was a disaster of epic proportions,” Ascher added.
Rating: 5