Time to Eat Crow About the Sonic Film
It was too easy to imagine the Sonic the Hedgehog movie turning out badly, even from the time when it was only a concept. The skepticism and laughter about it further intensified when the teasers and first previews arrived, which featured a more human-like Sonic that looked downright freakish compared to previous versions of the character. The movie was delayed for about three months and the character design was changed within a remarkably short timeframe following criticism, with the current Sonic further resembling the old iterations. But that wasn’t enough to erase the pessimism about a live-action Sonic sounding like a bad idea from the start, in a movie with a story that bore minimal resemblance to those from the games outside the existence of Sonic and Dr. Robotnik.
Not only did the movie’s themes resonate with the wider audience, and especially their children, as previews and ads hit airwaves, the movie itself isn’t too bad. As of this writing, it’s sitting at a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviews themselves attesting to how fun a time it is. If you want a good laugh and you aren’t cackling already, the movie’s RT score is higher than The Rise of Skywalker’s. Even fans of the Sonic games, enjoyed it despite its differences compared to them. There’s a reason why it was poised to do so well at the box office in its opening weekend (a three-day weekend in the US, notably), and that it did.
Sonic made $57 million in ticket sales this weekend, which helped it reach an important milestone. It’s the best opening ever for a video game adaptation, topping the record set by Pokémon Detective Pikachu not even a year ago. The gross was $70 million for the weekend including Sunday, an extra moviegoing day granted thanks to President’s Day. In another humorous anecdote, it also sailed beyond the also-recent opening of Birds of Prey, the performance for which has been underwhelming despite solid reviews.
The Sonic movie’s success means there is plenty of crow-eating to be had from everyone who was so pessimistic about its chances that they knew it would fail. This, regrettably, includes me, as you can tell by the two posts I previously made, with tones that indicated how befuddled I was about the film’s mere existence. To be fair, I made that first post after the initial preview with the humanish Sonic, but I still deserve it because I didn’t think it had much of a chance even after the change. I prefer my crow well done, thank you.
You know what all of this means, right? We are in for the glory that will be the Sonic the Hedgehog Cinematic Universe. All those movie ideas that you too-online cynics submitted as jokes will be given form. Get ready for a movie with Knuckles (with, of course, “& Knuckles” in the title) and one with Shadow and his Glock. It’s going to be a ride, but at least it will be fast.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
