Sonic the Hedgehog Cinematic Universe Thread (& Knuckles)

Maybe Elba will do the spinoff and then bow out? Who knows.

But if he's going into music then... when can we expect his own cover of Unknown from M.E.?

 

In the article Elba said: "The thing about making music is it’s a very consuming process,” he added. “It’s very difficult to shoot a movie and then go off into the studio or make a song. It’s like trying to build a soufflé while making a brick wall.”

Voice acting is also done in a studio. He could prob record his lines in the same studio he’s recording his music. Tbc I don’t mean to suggest that voiceover work is easier than regular acting. I’m simply suggesting that it may be easier for Elba to juggle voiceover work with music; especially since he specifically pointed out that he struggled having time for music when shooting movies.

Honestly... it would be AWESOME if Elba arranged Knuckles’ theme in the movie

 

Not too far of a stretch. Unlike other celebrities who tended to DJ once for the novelty money, sucked at it, and then disappeared, Elba has been involved in the techno scene for quite some time.

 

So if what I’m hearing is correct, the poster’s been updated to add Colleen and Tika’s names to the billing.

 

It seens so.

 

To absolutely clear I love that Colleen O'Shaughnessey gets to voice Tails. I loved hearing his voice in the first movie match the games.

If you know me I’m all for recognition and equality. I’m not even bothered by all the “Woke” stuff people complain about.

But this backlash was unnecessary. This was not offensive. Making them cram everyone on because fans decided it was a snub should not be a thing for posters.

The individual posters have each name. Maddie and Tom had one for the first. That makes sense. It feels silly for the primary poster to require a list. Lee Majdoub is still not there...is it still wrong?

 

I guess I see where you're coming from. But at the very least, if the actors/actresses are of such importance to your film that you're putting them or their character on the poster, maybe they deserve to be named on said poster? I don't particularly think names on a poster are all that important personally, but I guess I'm glad they made the change even if it isn't all-encompassing.

The elephant in the room however, is which version will end up in theatres. They can make a million different variations of the poster for social media, that's relatively easy. But the actual, physical prints are a different matter entirely.

 

Ya it’s nice for the names to match the faces. I just don’t consider it an insult the way some do I guess if someone happens to not be there.

When I’m really curious who someone is, who’s not a mainstream name, I just look it up.

 

My perspective is that it's not the poster itself in a vacuum, but the fact that Colleen in particular was left off the poster represents poor treatment of traditional voice actors by Hollywood in favour of celebrities. She's been voicing the character for almost a decade now, and her character is important to both this film and the wider franchise, so it's pretty transparent that she was initially left off due to not being a big Hollywood name.

 

Poor treatment of voice actors in favor or celebrities would be when their salaries are grossly disproportionate. Movie posters are advertisements, not the film credits. It honestly doesn't make a lot of sense to expect to sell more tickets by advertising unknowns, so that space is reserved for recognizable names. When all the names on a poster are recognizable, it gives the consumer a feeling of comfort and confidence that the film is important enough to feature all of those recognizable people. Adding a bunch of unknown names into the mix does nothing to impress and may actually hurt the consumer's preconceived impression of the film.

So yeah, she was left off for not being a big name. That's to be expected and is the correct move from a marketing point of view.

 

I don’t think it hurts to put lesser known names on it. It would peak my interest to see someone new next to a well known name. I also get it’s nice to see your name on a popular product/franchise. I noticed the individual Tails poster first and that thought that was cool.

I just never thought it was unfair the first way.

While we’re on the subject since they added them they should have been moved up and put on top of each other. Now the text looks too small imo.

 

To be fair, she does have a long surname.

 

It's not even that the poster is going for "the big names" (otherwise Tika Sumpter would have been on it first too).

The poster was and is going for the idea that it's "Team Sonic vs. Team Knuckles". So, naturally, you'd go for the actors that play the most important characters in that scenario.

But this poster is weird and kinda sucky, so rather than truly make it that relationship, they have Sonic and Knuckles going at it at the front and then floating heads and a few different pictures of Sonic dotted through the characters.

Problem happens when they just throw Maddie and Tails and people then start complaining about Colleen not being on the poster despite Tails' inclusion being a seeming afterthought. and also fuck Tika I guess, voice actors are supposed to be the only ones that matter according to Twitter

So then you don't even have characters in billing order. You have Ben and James on one side, Sonic and Tom, and Jim and Idris on the other, Robotnik and Knuckles.

The update has an awful job to do in this scenario, ruining the last bit of clue to its intended vision. Tails is a villian now. And there's no way to make the names even without leaving Tails or Maddie out of either the poster or names or adding Agent Stone but still leaving either Tails or Maddie of the stuff.

I think the entire thing was overblown mainly just because the poster isn't very good at being what it wanted to be. I hope it doesn't end up as the DVD cover.

 

I didn't think actors getting proper recognition for their work would be a controversial topic, but then I remember all of the other asinine shit this fanbase argues about....


Seriously, why is this change bad now?

 

I couldn't disagree more. I have a suspicion people are projecting way too much onto Tails (as they always do) and he won't nessecarily be as important to Sonic as a character as Tom and will be more of a plot device.

(Tom also makes for a perfect counter to Robotnik, who found a furry creature with power only to use it as a tool while Tom took his in as a son.)

It's not really about the "recognition". I'm saying I think it's an issue with the poster itself. The fact that people couldn't see what it was meant to be shows it was so unfocused that, had the design reached its goals in the first place, we probably wouldn't be a "controversy". (Although, maybe I'm putting too much faith into people...)

If the design isn't doing its job anyways, and people are gonna bitch about some names, then so be it, change them around however.

 

I think we're starting to see one of the downsides to this stance of listening so closely to the fans. The first film's changes to Sonic's design set a precedent that if people shout loudly enough, the filmmakers will acquiesce. I think it's great both Coleen and Tika were added to the poster but likewise understood why their names weren't there originally. I'm not bothered by that either way, but by the fact that it sets that precedence of shout and they will obey is a bit concerning...

 

This is what I mean. No squishing them side by side. Bigger names still get higher billing if they wanted it that way (the studio not the actors).

 

Looking at that poster from the point of view of someone who doesn't spend all day hanging out in a Sega/Sonic forum...the poster looks much better without those extra names, regardless of where they're placed. Tika what? Colleen who???

It is what it is - they already changed the poster once, they're not likely to change it back. But this whole drama was pointless in my opinion. Personally, I don't even like to know who the voice actors are (ESPECIALLY if they're celebrities.) How am I supposed to go all in on believing in the character when I've got the actor's image in mind? I don't know the name of a single voice actor from any of the old Disney films (before casting celebrities was a thing) and it doesn't make them any less classic. Regarding Sonic, I would just be grateful that the characters in the movie sound the same as the ones in the game and be done with it.

 

I'm all for them adding Tika and Colleen's names to the poster. Especially Colleen considering Tails is probably the second most popular/recognizable character in the series (knew so many people back in the day who didn't even know there was a Sonic 3 and had no idea who Knuckles was).

Beats the first movie's posters that didn't even credit Ben Schwartz despite him being the voice of the title character. I'm okay with them overcorrecting in this case.