Yahoo Movies Sonic movie's biggest challenge wasn't the design
Sonic the Hedgehog has had his much-needed redesign for the upcoming live-action movie and the results are very promising.
Gone are the terrifying muscular legs and too-human eyes and in their place is a design that's more in line with the video games. It's a step in the right direction and if you don't believe us, just look at the comparison below:
But as talked-about as it was, the design of Sonic was never the biggest challenge facing the movie – the audience is.
Earlier this year, Pokemon: Detective Pikachu narrowly missed out on becoming the highest-grossing video game movie of all time with $431.7 million worldwide, just behind Warcraft's $439 million (all figures from Box Office Mojo).
That's a decent return for Detective Pikachu, but even with positive reviews for a video game movie (68% on Rotten Tomatoes) and serious star power in the form of Ryan Reynolds, it couldn't crack the $500 million mark.
Detective Pikachu wasn't a flop, yet its reported $150 million budget meant it wasn't as profitable as it might have been.
Video game movies are a tough sell because they're inevitably more niche than other blockbuster fare, even with a big fanbase behind them. And that fanbase, as Sonic the Hedgehog found out to its cost, isn't slow to criticise.
Pokémon is the second-biggest game franchise of all time, but that didn't translate into guaranteed cinema success. By contrast, Sonic the Hedgehog is the 14th biggest behind the likes of Call of Duty and The Sims.
We don't yet know the budget for Sonic the Hedgehog, but the redesigned VFX will have pushed it higher than originally intended. So, combined with a smaller in-built audience, it was already facing a challenge to be a financial success.
The problem is that the movie doesn't feel like it's really aimed at the Sonic fanbase that grew up with the games. To date, the trailers have conveyed that it's a family-friendly offering that will skew younger in its humour than Detective Pikachu did.
Yes, the second trailer has more nods towards the games, but the movie will likely attract a younger audience who are more used to Sonic from the Sonic Boom TV series than the games. (We know that Sonic Boom also had a few games, but those weren't as well received.)
That doesn't mean that the Sonic game fans won't go and see the movie, but it could well be that the movie will be so tainted by the awfulness of that original design that those fans stay away anyway.
What's more, those are the fans who criticised the original design so much that the filmmakers decided to change it. To a more casual audience, they probably wouldn't have got what all the fuss is about – although they still might have been put off by the teeth.
The first thing that the majority of the family audience for the movie will see is the second trailer. There's no doubt that it's a stronger trailer, but maybe it would have been better anyway even with the original design because it doesn't have the odd 'Gangsta's Paradise' backing.
For Paramount, the problem remains attracting an audience to the movie in the first place if those with a connection to Sonic stay away.
However, the hope would be that Sonic the Hedgehog can prosper from the nostalgic element that worked so well for Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens in recent years.
We're not saying that it will end up grossing anywhere near those movies, but Sonic the Hedgehog could appeal to parents with a nostalgic connection to the games, making the movie an appealing family cinema trip.
After a stuttering start, Sonic the Hedgehog could well be set for a winning run next year.
Sonic the Hedgehog is released in cinemas on February 14, 2020.
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