'Sonic the Hedgehog' creator is still not sure about movie design

The original creator of Sonic the Hedgehog still “feels weird” about the design of the character in the upcoming movie, despite its revamp from the panned original concept.

Paramount went back to the drawing board after fans reacted angrily to the character’s appearance in the first trailer for the film.

This week, they debuted a new trailer and the reaction was far more positive among fans, praising the more cartoonish eyes, the return of gloves and the lack of unsettling teeth.

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Yuji Naka, who programmed the original 1991 game, wrote on Twitter (as reported and translated by Dualshockers) that he’s still not quite sold.

Naka said: “The design is much more Sonic-like now that he’s wearing gloves. However, his eyes still aren’t joined together, as expected.

“I can’t help but feel weird about that one point. But I’m looking forward to the movie’s release.”

Naka served as the head of Sonic Team and worked for Sega until leaving the company in 2006 and ultimately joining rival game manufacturer Square Enix.

In another tweet, the 54-year-old wrote that it was “too bad” the movie would never be released with the original design.

“I wanted to see a special DVD version of the movie which used the old design,” he added.

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The design delay cost Sonic the Hedgehog its original release date this month and it will now debut in February 2020.

A company called Social Films has analysed the reaction to the new trailer and the estimated cost of the redesign to Paramount pictures. They say the new trailer has been viewed nearly 13 million times on YouTube - up 35% compared to the previous trailer. Likes of the new trailer are up 360% on the previous version with dislikes being down 98%.

The estimate the redesign of the Sonic model for the trailer will have cost Paramount Pictures $2,150,000.

They estimate the cost of remodelling Sonic to be in the region of $35m.

Ben Schwartz provides the voice of Sonic, with James Marsden and Tika Sumpter leading the live-action cast alongside Jim Carrey as the villainous Dr Robotnik.

In the director’s chair is Jeff Fowler, making his feature debut after securing an Oscar nod with his 2004 short Gopher Broke.