After almost breaking the internet and getting delayed for that atrocious design of the titular character, Sonic the Hedgehog will finally premiere in theaters across the US next week.
It’s been a long road for Paramount Pictures and director Jeff Fowler’s live-action adaptation of the property. When the distributor released the movie’s first trailer, fans were left with a harrowing image of one of their favorite video game characters, which unleashed all kinds of hell on the creators. In fact, the backlash was so massive in scale that Paramount decided to push back the release date and redesign the icon to make their live-action version of the Blue Blur more likable.
Now, with the release of several trailers that have all showcased the redesigned version, the movie is once again back in fans’ good graces. But according to Fowler, who makes his directorial debut with the pic, they weren’t quite sure if the response to the redesign would be positive. Talking to Digital Spy, the filmmaker had the following to say about the process of reshaping the character.
“I think it had been about five months that had passed since the first trailer. We had worked very hard on our updates to the character. It was definitely a little bit of like, ‘Oh man, what happens if they don’t like this?'” He said. “But really, everyone that saw it internally as I was working on the film, just responded so positively. It really felt like, once we shared it with the fans, they would really embrace it and be excited about it.
Credit where credit’s due, as this new design is actually what the VFX team wanted in the first place, but Paramount opted for a more realistic and suspenseful sketch. Let’s just say that everyone’s glad the company decided to do the right thing and listen to fans.
So far, early reactions to Sonic the Hedgehog have called it a flawed, but fun experience and estimates claim the movie will dominate the charts on its opening weekend. So, it would seem that all’s set for the Speed Demon to make his cinematic debut on February 14th in style.