Sonic the Hedgehog has been an unexpected box office hit
Sonic the Hedgehog didn't get off to the best of starts, but the video game adaptation is now having the last laugh.
Having been delayed from November 2019 to February 2020, Sonic the Hedgehog has raced past $200 million worldwide at the box office, as well as setting the biggest opening weekend of all time for a video game movie.
After only two weeks of release, it's the fourth-biggest video game movie in the US with $106.5 million. Worldwide, it stands a chance of breaking the record of the biggest video game movie of all time, currently Warcraft's $439 million (all figures from Box Office Mojo).
Whether or not Sonic the Hedgehog manages that record remains to be seen and depends how it does against Pixar's Onward. But the mere fact that it's even in contention is something no one could have expected after that first trailer.
So just why has the big-screen debut of the speedy blue hedgehog been such an unexpected box-office hit?
There's no denying that the successful redesign of the character played a major part. It's hard to imagine the movie's family-friendly nature working well with a frankly terrifying Sonic at its centre.
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Nearly every trailer gets criticism of some kind, but it's rare that the criticism leads to actual change.
The reaction to that first design proved so overwhelmingly negative that the movie was delayed by three months and a new, improved Sonic was worked on that fans – and the general public – could love.
It played a role in Sonic the Hedgehog getting better-than-average reviews, especially for a video game movie, positioning it as a movie that the fans would enjoy and one that families could go and see.
The marketing and the reviews highlighted that this was a movie that was squarely aimed at younger children, trying to capitalise on the success of the Sonic Boom animated TV show.
In another unintended benefit of the redesign delay, it meant that Sonic the Hedgehog landed before the school holidays in most of Europe, making it the must-see movie for families.
Disney's The Call of the Wild did a Sonic and turned out to be quite good too, providing some family competition. But Harrison Ford and a CGI dog weren't able to dethrone the hedgehog and it remains the leading family offering at the cinema.
That'll be the case this weekend too as The Invisible Man is the main release and doesn't share the same audience.
It'll be Onward on March 6 that will prove the biggest challenge to Sonic the Hedgehog's run so far, but it could be on the verge of (or past) the $300 million mark by then. That might not seem like much, but very few video game movies have managed to hit that mark.
And as much as Sonic the Hedgehog's tone was aimed at a younger audience, it doesn't forget the long-running fans of the series.
After listening to their complaints over the original design, the movie also features a number of Easter eggs from the games, including that surprise appearance at the end that sets up a sequel.
It's a rare thing for a video game adaptation to satisfy fans and a wider audience, but Sonic the Hedgehog managed to do just that.
And now it's bringing in all the box-office gold rings as a result. Pingpingpingpingping!
Sonic the Hedgehog is in cinemas now.
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