Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) movie

Seriously SEGA? You keep skipping out on Disney, the company who did such a good job in Wreck-it Ralph to represent the franchise...

This is why I think the creative minds behind SEGA are some of the finest in the industry, but the business heads are completely incompetent.

 

Who said Disney wanted to pick this movie up?

 

Basically this. Tyson Heese adds such a wonderful flair to this world and its characters that it's hard not to fall in love with it all. His art was the only reason I ordered the Sonic Mega Drive comics after playing Mania (though I was pleasantly surprised to find out the writing was just as good, since I'd never read a Sonic comic before).

I'm not opposed to a CG movie (Sonic's generally had it good in that department, so I'd imagine they'd try and replicate the same feel and fluidity as usual), but yeah, the live action part is what's souring me on the whole thing. It just sounds so weird and unnecessary, not to mention reminiscent of stuff like Sonic 2006 or Alvin & the Chipmunks. I want to be proven wrong, but given the nature of this project, the natural thing to do is to keep expectations as low as possible.

 

Paramount barely has an animation studio so I'm not surprised. At the very least, Sony had a very talented animation studio behind it. Shame about the corporate meddling and awful screen writers employed there

 

Sony's animation studio was never involved with the movie's animation. That was and still is being handled by Marza Animation Planet, which is Sega's own CG animation studio. The same one that's handled all CG cutscenes in Sonic games since Sonic Unleashed. The same director, writers, producers, and production company (Original Film) still seem to be attached as well. Really, doesn't seem like Sony had that much to do with the movie creatively.

 

We have a release date. November 15, 2019.

Via ResetERA here and the Hollywood Reporter here.

Live action/CGI says to me "clusterfuck" but there's talent behind this and it's a major release. So could be good? Also doubt this is one of the announcements set for SXSW because that's concentrating on projects for 2018 whilst the movie is late 2019. Suppose a teaser trailer at the event is possible though. Thoughts?

 

I want to be optimistic, but I'm still 100% sure it'll find a way to suck. I really, really want to be proven wrong, but I physically cannot comprehend a world where this film is good, whether I want to or not.

 

Yeah, same boat here man. I think we both echo most people's thoughts and aspirations for this to be honest. Like, we all hope that this is going to turn out good. But it's difficult to fathom a universe where it is, even if we desperately want it to be. I mean, this is Sonic's first major motion picture "backed by a major film studio" ever so of course we want it to be good - but it's hard to imagine it being so.

 

Making Sonic into a live action movie (CGI included or not) is a one way ticket to disaster.

If it were solely CGI with no live action, that might lighten the blow a little. But my main concern, is what kind of plot could you possibly put towards all this? I really can't see any type of story line that would even remotely work here.

They'll probably stick with that old cliché "Sonic and his friends came from another dimension into ours, and need help getting back home, and it was all "Eggman's" fault, involving some machine and emeralds (or if not emeralds, it's gonna be some mystical object the fans have never even heard of til that moment)".

 

So Sonic X then.

 

We all know this isn't going to be Citizen Kane. But there are two things we don't know yet that could elevate this movie from "punishment for having children" tier to "partially redeemable"

1) Who is playing Robotnik and
2) How much is he going to OWN the character

 

How unfortunate. Would rather this film doesn't escape production purgatory. We already have enough bad videogame film adaptations, bad live action/CG hybrid films, and bad Sonic products as it is. We don't need a (likely-to-be) piece of trash that not only adds to the pile for every category, but also unites the unholy trilogy together.

 

Remember kiddies, this movie isn't being made for you or me. It's being made for people in theaters who go, "Hey look, it's Sonic the whatshisname. Ha ha, movie funny". It won't make back its budget (whatever that is) if it doesn't rope as many of them as possible.

Meanwhile, the "Sonic Fans" will still go see it, complain on the internet, then go buy the next Sonic game (which I hear is a flaming bag with "Sonic Addventure 7" written on it).

 

I honestly hope it's a mix akin to "Terrible Fate", where the environments are live action but the cast are 3D animation.

 

It does feel like this has resulted from Sega's ardent initiative to make Sonic a big thing but are fucking it up at every turn - particularly with the disappointment of Sonic Forces fresh in everyone's minds, a game that did have an incredible concept and should have been amazing but depressingly wasn't. I still remember Naka once saying he wanted Sonic to be "as big as Pokemon" around the time of Sonic X and I don't think those feverish ambitions ever truly left Sega's management. They're still trying it to this day.

We've had a string of negatively received Sonic products in recent memory with Sonic Mania the lone shining bright light among them - as in the only thing that Sega have actually done right and even then it was down to talents beyond Sega themselves. So I see the scepticism and negativity. On the surface this does have "clusterfuck" and "disaster" written all over it. You have the Deadpool producer which is a good sign and shows a glimmer of hope but then you also have a "this is going to be a car crash" live action/CG concept and a first-time director which is just never a good omen.

I'll await the trailer which should be forthcoming as the months pass but yeah, I can't fathom this turning out good. It'll be one hell of a surprise if it does.

 

As much as I don't care for them, those cgi/live action hybrid movies always seem to make bank at the box-office and international markets. Critically panned, but financially successful. Yogie Bear, Garfield, Smurfs, et al. It hurts to hear, but from a money perspective I totally see why they're going that route.
It's not what any Sonic fan wants to see, naturally. But y'know. What can you do.

 

Probably~

 

I'll start worrying once they announce the live action cast. I imagine they'll keep the game voice cast and have the "famous Hollywood actors" (or Danny Devito as Eggman) as new characters to attract a wider audience.

Though I feel like this is going to be in the Peter Rabbit territory, not as good as Paddington but not as bad as Smurfs/Alvin.

 

I'm excited to watch it crash and burn personally. I almost like to see Sega fail with Sonic now.

 

Interesting. Just read on ResetERA there was a Reddit leak a while back (unconfirmed though so could be fake) that someone got a hold of the screenplay and the film is inspired by and is essentially a re-telling of Sonic Adventure 1. Hence the live action/CG concept. They using it because of the source material. That's only if the "leak" is accurate. As I said, could be fake. The source is here for those interested.

If the leak is true and the film is Sonic Adventure 1 but in film form then that gives me a renewed sense of optimism. If the leak is legit of course.