You may remember this trailer for the live action Sonic the Hedgehog movie — it was met with heavy negative reaction. Fans were already skeptical (or turned off) in the first teaser posters with his muscular legs in sneakers, but the trailer pushed the Internet into outrage mode.
In a somewhat surprising move, the movie’s director pledged to redo Sonic’s design.
Some people were concerned the movie staff would be overworked in order to accomplish this, but as expected, the movie was delayed until Valentine’s Day 2020.
So now, after about six months, Paramount Pictures has released a new trailer showcasing the revised Sonic:
No doubt the two Sonics are very different. New Sonic is definitely more cartoony: larger eyes, less furry, teeth not as prominent, gloves instead of fur, tan stomach instead of white, and even no-lace shoes instead of laces. He’s much closer to his modern design seen in games like the recently released Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Paramount’s Sonic still has its differences though, like the blue arms. However, he has been seen with blue arms in the Sonic Boom cartoon series and associated media.
But there are also other little differences too besides Sonic’s appearance. Sonic’s reactions are more expressive. When Tom the cop meets Sonic, he’s holding a gold ring, an iconic object for the Sonic game series. The approaching drones are red instead of blue. I think it’s fairly safe to say that the movie’s crew didn’t just redesign Sonic and edit him into the film. They brought in Tyson Hesse, who has worked as an artist and writer on Sonic comics and directed some official Sonic cartoon short, to be the lead artist.
Which, of course, means Paramount probably spent a good chunk of money on this, even though it doesn’t seem like any scenes were refilmed. The original cost for making the movie was estimated to be around $90 million. Considering Sonic is the main character, he’s probably on-screen 60% of the time (my own rough estimate). Paramount also had to redo posters, displays, and trailers. Since there hasn’t been any updates on how much the changes in Sonic the Hedgehog cost, it’s easy to imagine $20-30 million — maybe more. One company is putting the price tag about $35 million.
So far, though, fan reaction has been almost the opposite of what it was after the first trailer.
For instance, the first Sonic the Hedgehog trailer linked in the opening paragraph had 57,000 thumbs up to 40,000 thumbs down — not a great like-to-dislike ratio. As of this writing, the revised trailer #1 has 734,000 thumbs up to 12,000 thumbs down.
Paramount Pictures has pulled their original trailer, so this isn’t a perfect comparison. And other channels hosting the original trailer had much more likes over dislikes, like this version from Entertainment Access which had about a 11:1 ratio, still not nearly as good as the current 61:1 with the new trailer.
Browsing the web, you can see major news organizations talking about the redesign:
CNET: “Sonic the Hedgehog’s redesign just saved its new trailer”
Forbes: “Sonic The Hedgehog Gets A Facelift In Much Improved Second Trailer”
Washington Post: “We’re surprised too: Sonic the Hedgehog’s new look actually works. Here’s why.”
Others highlighted the positive reaction from fans:
CNN: “The ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movie tries again with a new trailer, and people finally like it”
USA Today: “‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ trailer re-do earns praise from fans who criticized first look”
Yahoo News: “New ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ trailer shows revamped design following backlash — and fans are loving it”
I wholeheartedly agree Sonic looks better, although I have to add the trailer sounds better too without “Gangsta’s Paradise” playing. Just…why??
Now, though, comes the real test. Fans saying it looks better is one thing; getting them to the theaters — where studios make the most money — is another. Sure, it’s one thing to like the trailer, maybe watch it when it hits Netflix or whatever streaming service in probably about late 2020. Even going on the low end, Sonic the Hedgehog needs to make about $200 million at the box office just to break even, although it’s probably closer to $250-300 million. That means it has to outperform 2019 movie releases like The Addams Family, Men in Black: International, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Pet Semetary, and Rocketman.
As a comparison, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu had a budget of $150 million on the film and another $100 million in marketing. It took in about $430 at the box office, and reception/hype was enough that a sequel was announced even before the movie hit the theaters.
So Sonic the Hedgehog will likely need Detective Pikachu numbers, but the Sonic franchise doesn’t match the power of Pokémon. Jim Carrey’s portrayal of Robotnik may earn him as much praise as Ryan Reynolds’ Pikachu, so that could help boost ticket sales.
It’s also important that Sonic the Hedgehog does well for another reason: to prove that listening to fans is critical. Even if you’re disappointed that Sonic’s eyes are spaced apart like Sonic’s original creator is, or that he has blue arms, or don’t like the buddy movie genre, Paramount put months’ worth of work and money into an Internet outcry. If it still fails badly, no studio is going to want to listen to what the public have to say.
Yes, it is hard sometimes to figure out what people truly think versus a bunch of trolls or far-wing extremists manipulating outrage for amusement or profit. As I have mentioned before, there are ways to reduce the cost of having a movie night. So even if you are on limited budget, if you want to tell Hollywood that listening to fan support is important in a project like this, buy a ticket.
Not saying you have to go make it a Valentine’s Day date, but it may be an option over competing with Fantasy Island, The King’s Man, and The Photograph which release the same day. DC’s Harley Quinn movie, Birds of Prey, will debut a week before, and on the 21st, Bloodshot, Brahms: The Boy II, and Call of the Wild will be released. Some of those may turn out to be hits, but Sonic the Hedgehog will have plenty of time to gain traction before facing off with a potential juggernaut like Onward from Disney/Pixar. Earlier is better, though, as theaters are more likely to keep it playing longer and create hype for Paramount and Sega. Either way, it seems like a better date than November or December 2019, as although it’s good in terms of ticket sales, it would have almost certainly struggled against movies like Frozen II.
There is a theory floating out there that the April trailer was more or less a joke, something that Paramount/Sega came out with to get people talking and that the Sonic in the second trailer was always meant to be. All I have to say is…dude. Seriously? No studio is going to start in December 2018 with fake posters then release a fake trailer four months later with that same design all as a joke. Especially when they went ahead and printed them with a date on it. Even if you think Paramount moved it so it doesn’t compete with Frozen II in the same month, that’s just ridiculous. Paramount would have rather spent that $20 million or whatever this fiasco costs on a Sonic the Hedgehog 2 than some elaborate plot to shock people for almost a year before releasing a real trailer just three months before its premiere. It’s a dumb theory.
But overall, good job, Internet for making a statement, and nice job, Paramount/Sega for listening to fans. Let’s hope it all works out and in a couple of years, maybe we’ll be watching a trailer with Tails in it and laughing at the memory of a humanoid Sonic.