That sound you hear is Sonic the Hedgehog movie director Jeff Fowler's sigh of relief turning into a shout for joy. He and Sonic voice actor Ben Schwartz reacted quickly to the film's massive box office opening weekend.
Not only did that Sonic redesign gamble pay off, it paid off with a record-breaking opening as the best debut for any video game movie. Sonic the Hedgehog broke Detective Pikachu's $54.3 million record with its own $57 million opening -- and that's just for three days, not counting the extra money Sonic will make tomorrow for the Presidents' Day holiday.
Here's Sonic himself, Ben Schwartz, reacting to Sunday's box office news:
Guess his promise of free hedgehogs with every movie ticket worked!
Sonic the Hedgehog director Jeff Fowler was already ecstatic on Friday after opening night numbers came in, so he must be having the best weekend ever:
Sonic director Jeff Fowler is not just happy fans showed up to buy tickets, he's thrilled that fans seemed to love the movie and gave it high scores:
Sonic fans are now writing to Jeff Fowler asking for a sequel, and Paramount must be just fine with that.
Who saw us getting here? Not even a year ago, fans were disgusted with the first look at the Sonic movie. They hated the design for Sonic, which didn't look anything like the video game -- or just anything anyone would want to see. The backlash was severe enough that Jeff Fowler went back to the drawing board for a full redesign. That's pretty darn rare.
The Sonic redesign was a huge hit. It earned respect from fans and praise from Dr. Robotnik star Jim Carrey, who appreciated director Jeff Fowler's lack of ego on the subject. Fowler listened to fans' criticism, decided it had merit, and did what he thought was best to make the movie better. There was no guarantee fans would support the new Sonic movie, even with that relatively expensive redesign, but it worked.
It wouldn't have worked on its own, the movie still needed a solid script and performances. It got that script from Pat Casey and Josh Miller and the performances from Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally, and the rest of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie cast.
It's nice to see something positive in the movie world, considering so many people seem to prefer to be negative. These days, it's become popular to ignore certain movies in the theater but crap on them online. This time, fans used their powers for good and rewarded the filmmakers for making necessary changes.
Now what? Well, we let Sonic have his moment. Sonic the Hedgehog's box office run has just begun, but it does bode well for a full franchise. We'll have to see where that goes from here.
