Sonic the Hedgehog 2 follows up a cinematic take on a gaming franchise that managed to become the highest-grossing game film of all time. Ben Schwartz said it’s because Sonic fans make the movies.
“Also, these movies are made by fans. Jeff is obsessed with Sonic. [James and I have] played video games our whole lives … so we really are attached to the characters and we want to make people proud. I think the biggest thing is we come [to] it from a personal standpoint. If you watch these movies, there’s relationships; the idea of a Tom and Sonic and the heart between that. So, as James very brilliantly pointed out, it’s not just like, ‘okay, this is in the video game, there you go – have that, have this and just action, action, action,’ it’s you being attached to the characters, you finding the characters funny, you rooting for the characters.”
The Parks and Recreation veteran and voice of the in-motion mammal made the above comments during an interview with Fandom published earlier today. The report also featured director Jeff Fowler – who revealed his secret when making Sonic the Hedgehog and its imminent sequel – and James Marsden talking about the character’s earlier look.
“You don’t know how audiences are going to respond and the redesign of the character had us all not knowing what was going to happen. And the film came out, people loved it and it made us very happy and very proud to be a part of it. And now we get to take it to the next level.”
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 opens Friday.