UPDATE, 5/24/2019 – Alas, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie’s art department doesn’t have the luxury of its spiky blue hero’s lightning speeds, and the project will be delayed in light of the production team’s recent decision to redesign the title character. On Friday, director Jeff Fowler tweeted that Sonic‘s release would be postponed until February of 2020, a good while past its original slot in November ’19..
Taking a little more time to make Sonic just right.#novfxartistswereharmedinthemakingofthismovie pic.twitter.com/gxhu9lhU76
— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 24, 2019
Though this no doubt throws our Thanksgiving plans into flux (what else were we gonna talk about with family this year?), it suggests that we’ll have a better chance of contending with a Sonic whose teeth don’t make us shudder.
5/2/2019 – This week saw the release of the trailer for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie, hitting theaters later this fall. And it’s fair to say that reaction to the design of the beloved video game icon was not kind. People came for the movie on social media in a big way, and suddenly the initial online reactions to Will Smith’s genie from Aladdin seemed tame.
Well, it didn’t take very long for the producers of the film to respond. In a tweet, the film’s director Jeff Fowler said that Sega and Paramount Pictures would go back to the drawing board for Sonic, and redesign him after all the fan outcry.
Thank you for the support. And the criticism. The message is loud and clear… you aren’t happy with the design & you want changes. It’s going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be… #sonicmovie #gottafixfast ?✌️
— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 2, 2019
In the tweet, Fowler did as much damage control as he could. He assured fans that even though the movie is coming out this year it still wasn’t too late to give them the version of Sonic they all wanted. “You aren’t happy with the design & you want changes. It’s going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be.” Although there have been a lot of bad reactions to initial costume reveals and the like for beloved franchise movies, this is the first time we can remember where creators have come out and said they’re changing it in direct response to fan’s desires.
Fowler’s tweet even had the hashtag #gottafixfast, along with a picture of a wrench emoji. For a movie that is as CGI heavy as Sonic with only months to go till release, this is for sure going to be a monumental task to change a main character within this limited window of time. But it seems that everyone involved is adamant that the fans get the final say. Sonic the Hedgehog is currently set to hit movie theaters on Nov. 8.
Images: Paramount / Sega
