Billion-Dollar Saga Film No One Bet On At Release!

One year after adding the beloved blue hedgehog to its lineup, Netflix is bidding farewell to Sonic.

Released in 2021, the live-action film follows the world’s fastest blue hedgehog on Earth, his new home. Sonic and his new best friend Tom (James Marsden) team up to save the planet from the evil Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who is determined to conquer the world.

With over 2 million admissions in France alone, this video game character, who has stood the test of time, has won the hearts of both young and old. It even spawned a sequel two years later. A third installment, which will feature Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow—the most famous heroes from the gaming world—for the first time, is expected by year’s end.

However, Sonic’s success might not have been the same if the studios hadn’t reversed a particularly crucial aspect: the design of the blue hedgehog.

The Controversial Face

To understand the issue, we need to go back to April 2019. Paramount released the first images of its Sonic movie, hoping to please video game fans. However, the opposite happened.

The trailer, available on YouTube, received a record number of “dislikes”, with comments criticizing the hedgehog’s appearance as sloppy, uncomfortably humanoid, and not true enough to the video games. Amidst the uproar, director Jeff Fowler decided to backtrack and issued an apology. He and his team went back to the drawing board to better satisfy the audience:

“Thank you for your support. And for your criticism. The message is very clear… you are not satisfied with the design and you want changes. You will get them. The teams at Paramount and Sega are fully committed to delivering the BEST possible version of this character…”

To achieve this, the Paramount studio agreed to inject an additional $5 million to start from scratch and completely redo the blue hedgehog’s look. This raised the film’s budget to $90 million, which, fortunately, was quickly recouped… Two sequels followed, each as successful as the last. To date, the franchise has grossed $1.15 billion at the international box office.

Sonic will leave Netflix on the upcoming June 14th.