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.<\/p>\n
A less-than-three-minute trailer released early that year to tease the film\u2019s release, which was just six months away, was\u00a0widely panned by fans\u00a0who took to social media to rail against Paramount\u2019s character design. Dubbed \u201cUgly Sonic,\u201d the blue creature that appeared on film was a far cry from the iconic video game speedster.<\/p>\n
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 \u201990s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trailer goes out, and I think it became the most viewed trailer in the history of Paramount Pictures. Which is amazing,\u201d said Toby Ascher, who acquired the rights to Sonic and produced the film franchise. \u201cThe only problem was that 90% of people hated the trailer because of the design of Sonic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll 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,\u201d Ascher added.<\/p>\n
The studio pivoted, opting to redesign the title character and push the film\u2019s release back three months to February 2020. The fix cost\u00a0Paramount\u00a0around $5 million but resulted in a franchise that has generated nearly $1.2 billion at the global box office. The studio hopes to build on that momentum with a fourth installment in the film franchise, set to debut in 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sonic franchise owes its box office success and longevity to a monumental decision early in the development of the first films\u2019 marketing campaign,\u201d said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. \u201cA re-design of a main character is no small thing. \u2026 These decisions can make or break what is every studio\u2019s dream of having a single film turn into a long-term revenue generating franchise. The return on investment by turning an \u2018ugly\u2019 Sonic into a beautiful revenue generating franchise is undeniable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ascher first acquired the rights to Sonic the Hedgehog in 2013, a time in Hollywood when video game-inspired films had failed to resonate with audiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we first started working on Sonic, making a video game adaptation was, like, a really bad idea,\u201d he told CNBC.<\/p>\n
No film based on a video game property had, to that point, managed to earn a positive rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It wasn\u2019t until 2019 that a\u00a0video game-based film generated a \u201cfresh\u201d rating on the site,\u00a0indicating more than 60% positive reviews.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone in town really thought making a Sonic movie was a good idea,\u201d Ascher said. \u201cBut, I think our strategy was that we had grown up with these games. We\u2019ve grown up with these characters, and we wanted to treat them like any other character. We wanted to give them real emotional arcs, and real emotional stories where you could relate to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ascher noted that previous video game adaptations typically focused on worldbuilding rather than character development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve been able to do is inject into the franchise heart, and I think that that\u2019s what\u2019s made it different,\u201d said Neal Moritz, Ascher\u2019s producing partner and producer of franchises like \u201cThe Fast and the Furious\u201d and \u201c21 Jump Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Ascher and Moritz noted that while the filmmaking team behind the first \u201cSonic the Hedgehog\u201d film overhauled the main character\u2019s design, the story remained pretty much the same.<\/p>\n
The filmmaking team was blindsided by audiences\u2019 reactions to the first trailer, but were resolute in trying to resolve the issue rather than shelve the film or release it in its current form.<\/p>\n
Moritz said he made an \u201cimpassioned speech\u201d to the heads of Paramount and Sega to allow the filmmakers to fix the mistake.<\/p>\n
As Moritz recalls, he told executives: \u201cWe really screwed up here, but there\u2019s an incredible amount of interest and what we need to do is fix it \u2026 We need some more money and we need some more time. If you give that to us, I think we could turn this thing around.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI give both Paramount and Sega a lot of credit,\u201d Moritz said. \u201cThey said \u2018OK.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
In the redesign, the team brought back Sonic\u2019s iconic white gloves and classic red shoes. They reinfused the character with some of his cartoon roots, and six months after the first trailer,\u00a0Paramount released a new iteration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fans saw that we were trying to be really genuine in our love for this franchise,\u201d Ascher said, noting that in the wake of the first trailer the team began engaging more with fans and focus groups to drum up feedback and inspiration.<\/p>\n
The new trailer was well-received by fans, and three months later \u201cSonic the Hedgehog\u201d opened to $58 million at the box office. The feature went on to collect $146 million domestically before the pandemic shuttered theaters. Globally, it pulled in $302 million.<\/p>\n
The Sonic franchise has continued to thrive in the following years, with each follow-up feature outperforming the last.<\/p>\n
\u201cSonic the Hedgehog 2\u201d snared $190 million domestically and $403 million globally, while \u201cSonic the Hedgehog 3\u2033 tallied $235 million stateside and $485 million worldwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a big jump,\u201d said Marc Weinstock, Paramount\u2019s president of worldwide marketing and distribution. \u201cI get excited that every new movie does better than the last one, which is rare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the success of the second \u201cSonic\u201d film, the studio\u2019s then-president and CEO of Paramount Pictures, Brian Robbins, greenlit a \u201cKnuckles\u201d series based on the franchise for the company\u2019s streaming service, Paramount+, as well as a third Sonic film.<\/p>\n
Sonic was becoming multi-platform, much like Robbins and Paramount had done for franchises like \u201cTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,\u201d \u201cA Quiet Place,\u201d \u201cSpongebob Squarepants\u201d and \u201cPaw Patrol.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cKnuckles\u201d show generated more than 11 million global viewing hours in its first 28 days on Parmount+.<\/p>\n
The theatrical success also rocketed Sonic from a $70 million licensing business to one that generates more than $1 billion in retail revenue annually, according to Ivo Gerscovich, Sega\u2019s senior vice president and chief business and brand officer of Sonic the Hedgehog.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great thing about Sonic \u2014 and the success of Sonic from the very beginning \u2014 is that we basically have listened to the fans from day one,\u201d Robbins, now co-CEO of Paramount, said. \u201cThe fans are fanatical about this franchise and love this franchise and know this franchise. Because of that, they\u2019ve become really key in shaping the franchise \u2026 They evangelize it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fans inspired the casting of Keanu Reeves as Shadow, an archrival of Sonic, in the third Sonic film. And the filmmaking team says it continues to look to fans to inspire which characters it will add to the films and series next.<\/p>\n
Ascher and Moritz both teased that the fourth Sonic film with again feature a new fan-favorite character, but said the team will continue to expand the franchise\u2019s universe at a slow pace.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf all of a sudden we bring every character, they are not going to get the time that the audience needs to understand them and relate to them and really fall in love with them,\u201d Ascher said. \u201cSo, as we bring characters in, whether it\u2019s film or it\u2019s TV, the most important thing is that they have a good story that really showcases the character in an incredible way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes and is the distributor of \u201cThe Fast and the Furious\u201d films.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n 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\u2019s release, which was just six months away, was\u00a0widely panned by fans\u00a0who took to social media to rail against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}