All Articles: Sonic the Hedgehog

Paramount has been plugging away on a Sonic the Hedgehog movie for a few years now, and they gave us our first look at the Blue Blur’s cinematic debut back in April. While the clip was “endearingly goofy,” Sonic just didn’t look like Sonic… and the response from fans was brutal.

But rather than take their lumps and release the movie as is, Paramount delayed the theatrical release of Sonic the Hedgehog into next year and promised to rework the character’s design. This morning, the production company unleashed the first trailer featuring the redesigned Sonic… and it’s actually pretty great.

Sonic’s redesign gave the character his gloves back, and he now looks much closer to his Genesis counterpart in every way. Paramount even winked at their earlier misfire in the opening seconds of the clip (“I’m Sonic, a little ball of super-energy in an extremely handsome package.”). But best of all, the same goofy energy that pervaded the first trailer is still there in the new trailer, and Jim Carrey is still doing his crazy Jim Carrey thing as Robotnik.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie will be out in theaters on February 14, 2020. I’m cautiously optimistic.

The first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie gave fans all the 1990s nostalgia they could stomach. There was “Gangsta’s Paradise” on the soundtrack and Jim Carrey doing his Jim Carrey thing as Dr. Robotnik, but the CGI rendering of Sega’s Blue Blur was just as bad (and downright nightmare-inducing) as we all expected it to be.

Somehow not anticipating this reaction, the producers vowed to change Sonic’s look before the film opened in November.

Unfortunately, we’re just a few days away from Memorial Day right now and there is definitely not enough time left for the film’s animators to transform the character into something that’s acceptable to fans. So director Jeff Fowler took to Twitter today to confirm that Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie will now be released on February 14, 2020:

Taking a little more time to make Sonic just right.#novfxartistswereharmedinthemakingofthismovie pic.twitter.com/gxhu9lhU76

— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 24, 2019

Presumably, we’ll get a look at the new Sonic sometime in the next few months.

The world has been on an absolutely wild ride ever since we first learned about the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie. At the end of last year, we were forced to contemplate the shadowy specter of the character’s cartoonishly massive legs. And back in March, an accidental leak of the mascot’s visage left us all scratching our heads.

But now, at long last, Paramount Pictures has finally unveiled the first trailer trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie. Let’s dig in.

First off, Sonic himself is just as weird looking as the teaser poster and leaked images lead us to believe. But Jim Carrey is there doing his Jim Carrey thing as Dr. Robotnik, so that should provide a lot of goofy fun. And you’ll notice that the whole thing is bizarrely soundtracked by Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” (Even though the rapper never shows up on screen, I’m not sure he would have seemed all that out of place if he had). There’s also James Marsden playing a Normal Human Policeman and a pretty decent activity tracker joke.

Also, “Every Hero Has A Genesis” might be the cleverest tagline ever.

Add it all up and you get a trailer that feels almost as endearingly goofy as the first Detective Pikachu trailer. I’m not sure if the whole movie will work, but I’m definitely interested in finding out for myself when Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie opens in theaters on November 8.

The teaser poster for the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie was WEIRD. Sega’s long-running mascot was only shown in silhouette, but Sonic’s gargantuan size and ridiculously muscular thighs were a far cry from the portly cartoon character we all grew up with.

Well strap in, because things are about to get EVEN WEIRDER.

Hamagami/Carroll, one of the marketing agencies working with Sega and Paramount on Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, recently uploaded the first image of the character’s cinematic counterpart to their official website. This version of Sonic doesn’t seem as nightmarish as the shadow figure from the original poster, and it looks like the film’s producers even listened to fans and toned down his bulging muscles. But that said, something still seems really off about this image… even if I can’t quite put my finger on what that something is.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie will star Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, James Marsden as a sheriff who introduces him to the real world, and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. The movie will open in theaters on November 8, and Paramount is likely getting ready to release the first trailer soon.

The idea of a live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie has always seemed a little weird, but knowing that the “Blue Blur” would be voiced by Parks and Rec‘s Ben Schwartz eased the worry somewhat.

Then Paramount Pictures had to go and release the first poster for Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic himself is shown in silhouette, but you can clearly make out his extremely muscular arms and legs. The character also seems to be impossibly tall, and his head is freakishly large compared to the rest of his body (which, again, includes an extremely muscular pair of arms and legs).

The movie also has a new tagline, and I’m not ashamed to admit that it took me a very long time to realize that “A Whole New Speed of Hero” is just a particularly bad pun and not some random gibberish.

Sonic the Hedgehog, which also stars Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, will open in theaters on November 15, 2019. I honestly can’t wait.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has scheduled the theatrical premiere for Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie on November 15, 2019.

Tim Miller, most famous for directing Deadpool, is the Executive Producer on Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, which is said to include “a mix of live action and CGI to bring the character to life.”

Believe it or not, Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie will have an Oscar-nominated director behind the camera. Jeff Fowler was nominated for an Oscar for “Best Animated Short” in 2005 (for Gopher Broke), and he’ll be sitting in the director’s chair. He’ll be joined on set by screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who previously worked on a pair of Team Hot Wheels movies.

Sonic the Hedgehog has starred in several dozen games since his debut in 1991, so we have no idea what the movie will look like when it comes to theaters next year. But it should be interesting.