Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

This article is about the 2020 film. For the 1996 animated film, see Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA).

Sonic the Hedgehog
220px Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jeff Fowler
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz Toby Ascher Toru Nakahara Takeshi Ito
Written by	Pat Casey Josh Miller
Based on	Sonic the Hedgehog by Yuji Naka Naoto Ohshima Hirokazu Yasuhara
Starring	Ben Schwartz James Marsden Tika Sumpter Jim Carrey
Narrated by	Ben Schwartz
Music by	Tom Holkenborg
Cinematography	Stephen F. Windon
Edited by	Stacey Schroeder Debra Neil-Fisher
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	January 25, 2020 (2020-01-25) (Paramount Theatre) February 14, 2020 (2020-02-14) (United States) June 26, 2020 (2020-06-26) (Japan)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States Japan
Language	English
Budget	$85–90 million
Box office	$319.7 million

Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2020 action-adventure comedy film directed by Jeff Fowler (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, based on the video game franchise published by Sega. It stars Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, with the rest of the cast consisting of James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, and Jim Carrey. The film follows Sonic (voiced by Schwartz), a blue hedgehog who can run supersonic speeds, who teams up with local town sheriff Tom Wachowski (Marsden) to stop the sinister mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (Carrey).

Development for a Sonic film began in the 1990s but did not leave the planning stage until Sony Pictures acquired the rights in 2013. Fowler was brought in to direct in 2016. After Sony put the project in turnaround, Paramount Pictures acquired it in 2017. Most of the cast signed on by August 2018, and principal filming took place between September and October that year in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. Following the negative reaction to the first trailer in 2019, Paramount delayed the film by three months to redesign Sonic.

Sonic the Hedgehog premiered at the Paramount Pictures studio lot on January 25, 2020, before being theatrically released in the United States on February 14, 2020, by Paramount Pictures. It set the record for the biggest opening weekend for a video game film in the United States and Canada and grossed $319.7 million worldwide, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2020, and is the highest-grossing video game film adaptation of all time in North America. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the action scenes, Sonic's charm, and Schwartz, Marsden and Carrey's performances, but criticized its screenplay, product placement, and lack of ambition. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is scheduled for release in April 2022. A third film and a spin-off series starring Knuckles are in development.

Plot

On a distant planet, a young Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speed, is chased by a tribe of echidnas for his power. His guardian, Longclaw the Owl, gives him a bag of rings that open portals to other planets. She uses one to send him to Earth while she stays behind to hold off the echidnas.

Ten years later, Sonic enjoys a secret life near the town of Green Hills, Montana, but longs to make friends. He idolizes the local sheriff, Tom Wachowski, calling him "Donut Lord", and his veterinarian wife, Maddie, calling her "Pretzel Lady", unaware the pair are planning to relocate to San Francisco, as Tom, bored with the lack of action in Green Hills, plans to accept a position he has just been offered with the San Francisco Police Department.

One night, Sonic becomes upset over his loneliness while playing baseball by himself and starts running at high speeds in a circle, accidentally triggering an electromagnetic pulse which causes a large-scale power outage across the Pacific Northwest instead. The United States Department of Defense reluctantly enlists the services of eccentric roboticist and scientific genius Dr. Robotnik to determine the cause. Sonic, in a state of shock, flees from his underground home, but Tom discovers Sonic in his shed and accidentally shoots him with a tranquilizer dart, causing Sonic to see the Transamerica Pyramid on Tom's shirt and accidentally drop his bag of rings through a portal to the top of the same building instead of the "mushroom planet" he was planning to travel to. Tom hesitantly agrees to help Sonic and the two flee when confronted by Robotnik, who falsely labels Tom a domestic terrorist. The two slowly bond, with Tom finding himself sympathetic to Sonic's desire for a real friend. Sonic creates a bucket list and Tom helps him complete several entries along their journey.

Having recovered one of Sonic's quills, Robotnik analyzes it and discovers it holds an almost limitless amount of electrical energy. He decides to capture Sonic and use him to power his machines. As he tracks them down, Sonic and Tom debate over Tom's plans to leave Green Hills, which Sonic disapproves of because, regardless of how much action there needs to be, he knows Tom still has to protect and serve Green Hill's citizens. Sonic and Tom manage to fight off several mechanized pursuit drones sent by Robotnik until Sonic is badly injured after the battle.

Arriving in San Francisco, Tom brings him to Maddie, who treats him at her sister Rachel's home. While Tom explains their situation to her, Sonic receives a new pair of red sneakers to replace his ruined ones from Jojo, Maddie's niece. The group soon heads to the roof of the pyramid and recovers the rings. Robotnik arrives, piloting an advanced attack hovercraft powered by the quill. Sonic taunts Robotnik by calling him "Eggman" after his egg-shaped drones. Despite Robotnik matching his speed using the quill's power, Sonic fights off Robotnik's drones and uses one of his rings to send Tom and Maddie back to Green Hills to protect them.

Robotnik pursues Sonic across the world through San Francisco, France, China, and Egypt – inadvertently completing several of Sonic's bucket list entries in the process – ultimately returning to Green Hills. Robotnik knocks Sonic unconscious, but Tom and the townsfolk intervene, and Tom says that Sonic is his friend, causing Sonic to regain his strength. Sonic then defeats Robotnik by opening a portal to send him to the mushroom planet, through the force of an electromagnetic-powered spin dash. Following the incident, Tom and Maddie decide to stay in Green Hills and let Sonic live with them. The government agrees to hide Sonic's existence by erasing all evidence of the events, including records of Robotnik's existence.

Three months later, Robotnik is still in possession of Sonic's quill and usable equipment salvaged from the remains of his hovercraft. While shaving his head, he swears to return to Earth and exact revenge against Sonic. Tails, a two-tailed fox, emerges from a ring portal on Earth to search for Sonic.

Cast

Voice cast

• Ben Schwartz as Sonic the Hedgehog:
  An anthropomorphic blue hedgehog with superhuman speed who finds himself on the run from Robotnik and the United States government. After meeting and teaming up with Tom, Sonic resolves to use his super-speed to fight and to put a stop to Robotnik from getting his hands on his supersonic speed powers for his plans of conquering the world. Schwartz also provided the facial motion capture for Sonic.
  • Benjamin L. Valic as Young Sonic.
• Donna Jay Fulks as Longclaw:
  An anthropomorphic brown owl and Sonic's caretaker.
• Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Miles "Tails" Prower:
  An anthropomorphic yellow-orange two-tailed fox who appears in the mid-credits scene where he emerges into Earth to find Sonic. O'Shaughnessey, who has voiced the character in the video game series since 2014, is the only voice actress to reprise the role from the video games.

Live-action cast

• Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik: the brilliant robotics expert and mad scientist who works with the American government who covets Sonic's abilities and plans to exploit them for personal gain, but the conflict with the blue hedgehog would soon lead Robotnik into becoming the arch-enemy of Sonic. Carrey compared his character to his portrayal of the Riddler in Batman Forever, saying: "I wouldn't put one against the other. I think they'd be a great team. But you know, it's like Robotnik and every super-villain basically comes from a place of neglect with a feeling of absolute worthlessness that manifests itself in magnificent creations that are designed to control the world, put their brand on everybody, and maybe even get inside your bloodstream with some nanotechnology occasionally".
• James Marsden as Thomas "Tom" Michael Wachowski: the sheriff of Green Hills, known to Sonic as "Donut Lord", who wishes to join the SFPD. He befriends Sonic and aids him in his quest to stop Robotnik.
• Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski: a veterinarian and Tom's wife, who helps him and Sonic stop Robotnik. Sonic calls her "Pretzel Lady."
• Natasha Rothwell as Rachel: Maddie's older sister who dislikes Tom and frequently attempts to encourage Maddie to leave him.
• Adam Pally as Wade Whipple: a dim-witted deputy sheriff in Green Hills and Tom's closest friend.
• Neal McDonough as Major Bennington: a soldier tasked with assisting Robotnik (whom he dislikes) in his efforts to capture Sonic.
• Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone, a government agent who works for Robotnik.
• Melody Nosipho Niemann as Jojo, Rachel's daughter and the niece of Maddie and Tom.
• Tom Butler as Commander Walters, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who orders Robotnik to investigate the disturbances caused by Sonic.
• Frank C. Turner as Crazy Carl, a conspiracy theorist who seeks to prove Sonic's existence and refers to him as the "Blue Devil".
• Garry Chalk as the U.S. Navy Chief of Staff. Chalk previously voiced Grounder and Robotnik in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground respectively.
• Michael Hogan as the Air Force Chief of Staff.

Pachacamac the Echidna, an anthropomorphic red echidna who is the leader of Knuckles' tribe in the games, makes a non-speaking cameo at the start of the film, as the echidna who shoots down Longclaw.

Production

Prior efforts

Development for a film adaptation of the Sonic the Hedgehog video games began in 1993 during production of DIC Entertainment's television show Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Michealene Risley, the newly appointed consumer products director who helped license Sonic for Adventures, negotiated with several Hollywood producers. Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske was wary of damaging the brand, citing the commercial and critical failures of the Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter films. Despite Kalinske's concerns, Sega was enthusiastic. In August 1994, Sega struck a development deal with MGM and Trilogy Entertainment Group, with Pen Densham as executive producer.

MGM and Sega hired Richard Jefferies, an associate of Risley from her days at Marvel Comics, to write a film treatment. At the time, Sega was developing the video game Sonic X-treme (which was canceled in late 1996) for its next console, the Sega Saturn, and asked Jefferies to feature the Saturn in the screenplay. Jefferies' treatment, Sonic: Wonders of the World, was submitted in May 1995. While the draft received a positive response among MGM and Sega executives, Sega COO Shinobu Toyoda suggested Kalinske replace Robotnik with a meaner villain. MGM canceled the project after a failed attempt to revive it at DreamWorks. Jeffries suggested that the film was scrapped as both Sega and MGM wanted a higher share of the profits, while Densham said it followed creative differences between Sega and Trilogy.

In 2002, Ben Hurst consulted DIC Entertainment about the possibility of making an animated Sonic film to serve as a continuation of the animated Sonic the Hedgehog television series, in which he worked as a writer. DiC put Hurst in contact with a Sega executive interested in the idea. Hurst was contacted by Ken Penders, writer of the Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series, who had been alerted of Hurst's plans. Though Hurst told him his strategy and offered to include him in his effort, Penders told Sega that Hurst was trying to co-opt the franchise, leading Sega to dismiss Hurst and his proposal. In September 2003, Penders pitched his own concept for a Sonic film, Sonic Armageddon. In Penders' words, the movie would have been an origin story and a series reset, resolving the plot threads which began in the animated Sonic show and continued in Archie's comic series. The project was dropped in 2007 due to a corporate upheaval and the death of Sega licensing manager Robert Leffler, who had supported Penders.

Development

In 2013, Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired the rights to produce and distribute a Sonic film. On June 10, 2014, a live-action animated film was announced as a joint venture between Sony Pictures’ Columbia Pictures and Marza Animation Planet, a Japan-based subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings which had produced CGI cutscenes for several Sonic games. It would be produced by Neal H. Moritz by his Original Film banner alongside Takeshi Ito, Mie Onishi, and Toru Nakahara, and written by Evan Susser and Van Robichaux. In February 2016, Sega CEO Hajime Satomi said the film was scheduled for 2018. Blur Studio's Tim Miller and Jeff Fowler were hired in 2016 to develop it; Fowler would make his feature directorial debut, and Miller would serve as executive producer. Blur Studio previously produced cutscenes for the games Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), for which Fowler directed cutscenes, and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). Patrick Casey, Josh Miller, and Oren Uziel were writing the screenplay, while Casey and Miller wrote the story.

On October 2, 2017, Paramount Pictures announced that they had acquired the rights after Sony put the film in turnaround. Almost all of the production team remained unchanged. In February 2018, it was announced that the film would be released in November 2019. During production the film used the working title "Casino Night", named after one of the stages in the Sonic games. Early drafts featured Sonic's Super Sonic form from the video games. The ideas were discarded as Fowler felt "it didn't make sense to obviously bring in the Super Sonic thing just yet” and wanted to focus on the origins of Sonic and Robotnik's relationship.

Casting

In May 2018, it was reported that Paul Rudd was in talks for a lead role as Tom, "a cop who befriends Sonic and will likely team up to defeat Dr. Robotnik”; however, this was later denied by Paramount. A day later, it was announced that James Marsden was cast in an undisclosed role, but later revealed to be Tom Wachowski. In June, Tika Sumpter was cast as Tom's wife, with Jim Carrey cast to play the villain, Dr. Robotnik.

In August, Ben Schwartz joined the cast to voice Sonic. This marked a rare occasion in which the character would not be voiced by Roger Craig Smith, who has been voicing Sonic in most incarnations since 2010. Schwartz, a fan of the original video games, was chosen for the role after Fowler and Miller cast him for a test reading as they pitched the project to several studios. Having enjoyed his performance, they officially cast Schwartz as the voice of Sonic. Adam Pally and Neal McDonough were added to the cast later that month. Debs Howard and Elfina Luk joined the cast the following November. Riff Raff was cast in an undisclosed role, but was cut from the film.

Filming

Principal photography began in mid September 2018 and ended in Vancouver, Ladysmith, and Vancouver Island on October 16, 2018. Key production scenes were also filmed in Liwa Oasis, United Arab Emirates. During filming Ben Schwartz was unavailable, and a stand in performed alongside Marsden.

Visual effects and design

The visual effects are provided by Moving Picture Company (MPC), Marza Animation Planet, Blur Studio, Trixter, and Digital Domain. The production team created a realistic version of Sonic using computer animation, adding fur, new running sneakers, two separate eyes, and a more human like physique. They used Ted, the living teddy bear from the Ted films, as a reference to insert a CGI character into a real-world setting. Executive producer Miller said: "It would be weird and it would feel like he was running around nude if he was some sort of otter-like thing. It was always, for us, fur, and we never considered anything different. It's part of what integrates him into the real world and makes him a real creature." According to Miller, Sega was not "entirely happy" with the design of Sonic's eyes.

On May 2, 2019, in response to the near-universal criticism of the design, Fowler announced on Twitter that Sonic would be redesigned. The film was delayed from its original release date of November 8, 2019, to February 14, 2020, as a result. Artist Tyson Hesse, who worked on previous Sonic the Hedgehog media, was brought on to lead the redesign. Sonic was given larger and differently colored eyes, new sneakers, white gloves, and a less humanlike body to better resemble Sonic's video game design. Sonic was redesigned by Marza Animation Planet. The redesign added an estimated $5 million to the production budget, took around five months, and was achieved without overtime.

Music

In February 2019, Tom Holkenborg, who previously worked with executive producer Miller on Deadpool, was hired to compose the score. The soundtrack was released alongside the film on February 14, 2020, in both digital and physical formats. Riff Raff, who had a role in the film but was cut, appears on the soundtrack. An original song, "BOOM" by X Ambassadors, appears on the soundtrack, the single was released on January 24, 2020 by Atlantic Records. "Speed Me Up" received 15 million streams, along with 1.8 billion views for the "Speed Me Up" TikTok challenge. "Friends" by Hyper Potions, which previously appeared as the opening theme of Sonic Mania, also appears, along with arrangements of tracks from Masato Nakamura's score for the original Sonic the Hedgehog (1991). Holkenborg attempted to capture the feel of Nakamura's soundtracks for the Sonic and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) games, using Yamaha digital FM synthesizers (such as the DX7) similar to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console's Yamaha YM2612 sound chip.

Release

Marketing

File:Sonic Film original design.jpg

The film was delayed and Sonic was redesigned after the original design (pictured) was heavily criticized.

Test footage was screened at the Comic Con Experience in Brazil on December 6, 2018. It was followed by a teaser poster released on December 10, 2018, revealing the silhouette design of Sonic, with the tagline "A Whole New Speed of Hero". It received a negative response from critics and fans, and was compared unfavorably to another 2019 video game film adaptation, Detective Pikachu, which added fur and skin textures to the Pokémon characters. Sonic's humanoid appearance was described as evoking an uncanny valley response. Former members of Sonic Team, who created the Sonic the Hedgehog games, also expressed surprise. A second poster was leaked online shortly after. Fans complained of a lack of resemblance to the games and criticized the positioning of Sonic's legs, spawning an Internet meme in which users recreated the position. The film's official Twitter account posted an image of Sonic behind a sign reading: "Can't a guy work out?" Images of the Sonic design were leaked in March 2019 to more fan criticism. Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka was "shocked" by the design and felt the ratio of Sonic's head and abdomen was imbalanced.

The first trailer premiered on April 4, 2019, at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and was released online on April 30. It received near-unanimous criticism, with Gita Jackson of Kotaku calling it "horrific" and "a blight upon this weary earth". Sonic's design was heavily criticized by fans for its humanoid appearance, while some found the use of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" jarring. Conversely, CNET's Sean Keane praised the humor and references to the games. Within two days, the trailer was viewed more than 20 million times on YouTube, and had received hundreds of thousands of "dislike" ratings, drastically outnumbering the "like" ratings.

A second trailer revealing the redesigned Sonic was released on November 12, 2019. The trailer received far more positive responses, with many praising Sonic's new design. The tone and the humor also received positive reviews, as did the choice of song, J. J. Fad's "Supersonic". Naka said he felt the new design was "much more Sonic-like". The second trailer received thousands of likes and the highest like-to-dislike ratio of any trailer on Google in the last three years. The trailers have garnered a total of more than 500 million views worldwide. As a promotional tie-in, the version of Sonic seen in the film was added as a playable character to the mobile games Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces.

Theatrical release and premiere

File:JimCarreySonicMoviePremiere2020.jpg

Jim Carrey (right) at the premiere of the film

Sonic the Hedgehog was scheduled for 2018 by Sony Pictures Releasing. In February 2018, shortly after taking over the rights, Paramount Pictures rescheduled the film to November 15, 2019. It was later moved a week earlier to November 8, 2019. Following the announcement of Sonic's redesign in May 2019, the film was again delayed for just one last time by three months (to February 14, 2020, to be exact), to ensure Paramount gets "a little more time to make Sonic just right". Playing with Fire took the original release date. The world premiere took place at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles on January 25, 2020. The film was originally going to be released in Japan on March 27, 2020, but had to be moved to June 26, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Home media

On March 20, 2020, Paramount announced that Sonic the Hedgehog would be released to home media in the United States and Canada before the end of the usual 90-day theatrical run, as many film studios took the decision to release films earlier due to movie theaters closures in mid March because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The digital version was released on March 31, 2020, and was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray by Paramount Home Entertainment on May 19, 2020. All home media releases include an original short film, Around the World in 80 Seconds.

The film topped the American Blu-ray and DVD charts for several weeks upon release. As of 6 December 2020, it has sold over 1.9 million units in the United States, earning over $40 million in sales revenue. It was the sixth top-selling home video title of 2020 in the United States.

After its release to Digital HD in 2020, Paramount Pictures announced that the film would land on the streaming service, EPIX on November 20, 2020. The movie then made its move to streaming service, Hulu on February 18, 2021, and on Amazon Prime Video the next day on February 19, 2021. Paramount Pictures also confirmed that the movie as well as its upcoming sequel entitled Sonic the Hedgehog 2 would release later on Paramount+ with its sequel being released 45 days after its theatrical release window.

Reception

Box office

Sonic the Hedgehog grossed $149 million in the United States and Canada, and $170.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $319.7 million. It was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2020, and the highest-grossing superhero film of the year, ending Marvel Studios' decade-long run of having the highest-grossing film of the genre (from 2010 to 2019). The film's budget was estimated at being between $85 million and $90 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Fantasy Island, The Photograph, and Downhill, and was initially projected to gross $40–50 million from 4,130 theaters in its four-day President's Day opening weekend. After making $21 million on its first day (including $3 million from Thursday night previews), estimates were raised to $64 million. It went on to top the box office with a $58 million debut over the three-day weekend, and $70 million over the four, breaking Detective Pikachu's record for the biggest opening weekend by a video game-based film. It was also the fourth-best President's Day holiday weekend and Jim Carrey's second biggest opening weekend, behind Bruce Almighty (2003). The success was attributed in part to the redesign of Sonic and the publicity it created, and the delayed release date, which meant it opened with less competition from other family films. Opening day audiences were 56% male and 44% female, with 70% under 25 years and 30% over 25 years. In its second weekend, Sonic the Hedgehog made $26.2 million and retained the top spot at the box office, bringing its ten-day domestic gross to $106.6 million. Sonic the Hedgehog made $16.3 million in its third weekend and was dethroned by newcomer The Invisible Man. On March 14, 2020, it became the highest-grossing film based on a video game in US box office history, surpassing Detective Pikachu.

Sonic the Hedgehog was released in 40 countries during its three-day opening weekend, topping the international box office with $43 million. Its strongest international regions were Latin America and Europe, with its largest openings being $6.7 million in Mexico, $6.2 million in the United Kingdom, $4.3 million in France, $3.3 million in Germany, and $3 million in Brazil. Worldwide, it made $101 million over the three-day weekend and $113 million over the four days. In its second weekend the film again topped the international box office with $38.3 million from 56 countries for a ten-day overseas gross of $96.5 million, and topped the global box office again with $64.6 million for a ten-day worldwide gross of $203.1 million. Its largest international markets in its first ten days were the United Kingdom ($19.1 million), Mexico ($12.3 million), and France ($9.1 million), retaining the top spot in these markets. The film opened in 16 new markets, led by a number-one debut in Russia ($6.3 million). The film was released in Japan on June 26, 2020, after being postponed from a previous March release due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and debuted at No. 6 that weekend. In China, the release was also postponed due to the pandemic, eventually receiving a July 31 date and underperforming at the Chinese box office due to new pandemic-related theatre policies there.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Sonic the Hedgehog has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "Fittingly fleet and frequently fun, Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game inspired adventure the whole family can enjoy and a fine excuse for Jim Carrey to tap into the manic energy that launched his career." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported it received an average 4 out of 5 stars, with 70% of viewers they surveyed saying they would definitely recommend it.

Akeem Lawanson of IGN gave the film a score of 7 out of 10, praising the performances and the nostalgia, stating, "While this family-friendly action-comedy suffers from a simplistic story and leans too heavily on tired visual clichés, Sonic the Hedgehog is nevertheless boosted by solid performances from Ben Schwartz as Sonic and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. Their ongoing cat-and-mouse game is entertaining, and passionate fans of the Sega franchise should appreciate all the nods to Sonic's history." Dami Lee of The Verge gave the film a positive review, praising the nostalgic elements seen in the film, writing that it "shines when it remembers it's based on a video game, and there's some genuinely fun stuff—like when Sonic uses his time-stopping powers or Robotnik's elaborate 'evil-plotting' montage that makes you wonder why more movies don't feature bad guys with choreographed dance sequences. Carrey plays up Robotnik as the cartoon villain he is, and it's a true delight to watch him in his element." Corey Plante of Inverse called it a "road trip superhero movie" and "the best superhero movie of 2020" so far. John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter, gave the film a positive review, saying: "Flesh-and-blood actors help keep this game derived kids' flick afloat."

Gene Park of The Washington Post gave the film a positive review, saying it was "the furthest thing from Cats, despite the early comparisons. Wary fans expecting the usual easy target to mock will instead find something to fervently celebrate for years." Amon Warrman of Empire gave the film two out of five stars, writing, "An on-form Jim Carrey can't stop Sonic's live-action debut from feeling like a missed opportunity. If the teased sequels do materialize, here's hoping the storytelling levels up." Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times gave the film a negative review and wrote, "Sonic now resembles a cartoon hedgehog instead of a spray-painted marmot. But if anything was done to de-genericize the script, it hasn't helped. Not that the Sega games—in which the fleet-footed hero zips around doing flips and collecting gold coins (which here encircle the Paramount mountain) gave the director, Jeff Fowler, much to work with."

Variety's Owen Gleiberman criticized the tone: "For all the borderline tedium I felt at Sonic the Hedgehog, I do realize that this is a picture made for 8-year-olds. And they'll probably like it just fine. Yet I would also call the overly kiddified tone of the movie a mistake." Writing for The Guardian, Steve Rose gave the film two out of five, saying elements were "clearly indebted" to other films, such as Quicksilver's powers in the X-Men movies, and finding the message of friendship "trite and familiar". Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave the film one out of four, writing, "Sonic the Hedgehog is only as successful as the amount of time you want to spend watching its animated protagonist go on instantly forgettable adventures, and boy, is that unfortunate."

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Recipients	Result	Ref.
2020	SXSW Film Festival	Excellence in Title Design	Sonic the Hedgehog	Nominated
	People's Choice Awards	The Family Movie of 2020		Nominated
2021	Critics' Choice Super Awards	Best Superhero Movie		Nominated
		Best Villain in a Movie	Jim Carrey	Won
		Best Actor in a Superhero Movie	Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey	Nominated
	Hawaii Film Critics Society	Best Visual Effects	Sonic the Hedgehog	Nominated
	Hollywood Critics Association Awards	Best Animated or VFX Performance	Ben Schwartz	Won
		Best Blockbuster	Sonic the Hedgehog	Nominated
		Best Visual Effects	Ged Wright	Nominated
	Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie	Sonic the Hedgehog	Nominated
		Favorite Movie Actor	Jim Carrey	Nominated
	Ursa Major Awards	Best Motion Picture	Sonic the Hedgehog	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Fantasy Film Release		Nominated

Sequels and spin-off

Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

Paramount confirmed that a sequel was in development on May 28, 2020. Fowler returns as director, while Casey and Josh Miller return as writers. Neal H. Mortiz, Toby Ascher, and Toru Nakahara are producing, having co-produced the first film alongside Takeshi Ito, while Tim Miller, Hajime Satomi, and Haruki Satomi return as executive producers. Filming took place between March 2021 and May 2021, under the working title Emerald Hill. This is a reference to the first level of the game Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), and it features a remix of the "Emerald Hill Zone" theme from the game.

On December 8, 2020, it was confirmed that artist Tyson Hesse would reprise his role for storyboard artist Fill Marc as he said the following: "I wrapped up work on Lower Decks Season 2 last week. Excited 2 announce I’ve been working on the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Story Team with Jeff Fowler and Tyson Hesse at Blur Studio. My first live action feature coming in 2022." Marc a bit afterward deleted his post from Twitter but his post from Instagram remains intact. This will be Marc's first live-action project. In January 2021, Sumpter announced that she was reprising her role as Maddie. She also announced that the sequel will film in Vancouver and Hawaii. On February 9, 2021, The Illuminerdi reported that the studio was considering Jason Momoa for the role of Knuckles, but later on, it was confirmed that Idris Elba will voice the character. The title, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, was confirmed on February 10, 2021. The film is scheduled for April 8, 2022. On March 15, 2021, Jeff Fowler confirmed that production of the film had begun.

On February 15, 2022, a third film was confirmed to be in development, as well as a spin-off series starring Knuckles the Echidna for Paramount+ in 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Sonic the Hedgehog at IMDb
• Sonic the Hedgehog at the TCM Movie Database
• Sonic the Hedgehog at AllMovie