Sonic The Hedgehog' Makes History in Opening Weekend: Why Is It Worth Watching?

By Staff Reporter

"Sonic the Hedgehog" is proof that you don't judge the trailer for it to become a box office hit.

When the trailer first dropped in April 2019, many fans said that the CGI Sega character was creepy and upsetting. The trailer for the movie received immense internet backlash from the fans.

Some said his eyes were "un-conjoined," his features too far from his video game counterpart, and his teeth were "too big" and looks "too human."

Fast forward to February 2020, "Sonic the Hedgehog" received mixed reviews and production delays, but it didn't slow down in topping the box office this weekend.

The Paramount film reportedly brought in an estimated $57 million domestically for its opening weekend. That's a performance for a movie Paramount had projected around $40 million range for the weekend.

It was an excellent little rebound for "Sonic" that is expected to earn $68 to 70 million through Monday, one of the best results for the holiday weekend.

The unexpected start is even more notable since movies based on video games tend to be rejected by moviegoers.

Globally, "Sonic" has made $100 million so far.

The family-friendly movie cost $87 million to make was postponed three months to give the filmmakers enough time to revamp the title character. The visual effects artists went back to the drawing board and created a version more realistic to the way Sonic looks in his video games, which Sega introduced in the early 1990s.

It was initially scheduled to debut in November but was pushed back due to redesign.

It proved to be the right decision because audiences gave the film a rating of "A" CinemaScore. Apart from that, it currently holds a 53 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, joining an unusual group of other video game adaptations to be reasonably well-received.

Voice actor Ben Schwartz is the man behind the blue creature, who teams up with a local sheriff to defeat the evil Dr. Robotnik.

With its multimillion-dollar earned opening, the budgeted "Sonic" has the best opening weekend ever for a video game adaptation, even passing Warner Brothers' "Pokemon: Detective Pikachu," which opened $54.3 million in May, grossing $433 million worldwide.

There's a high chance that the movie will have strong legs over the next few weeks.

"Birds of Prey" and "Dolittle" are considered to be underperforming commercially, so "Sonic's" debut is a careful development.

According to reviews, despite most of the touches of humor working and without the usual overdose of quips and cringy actions, the best part of the movie is actually Sonic himself.

Schwartz does a great job with voicing the hyper hedgehog, managing to emphasize the character's never-ending liveliness and gusto without making him excessively irritating.

The action in "Sonic the Hedgehog" movie is aptly fast-paced, and even when it slows down, the interaction between Marsden and Sonic is good enough that it doesn't drag the film down.

And because of "Sonic the Hedgehog," maybe the video game movie curse is finally over. Perhaps animation studios have finally found the right way to crack the formula.