Back in May, Paramount unveiled a trailer for director Jeff Fowler's SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, an action comedy film based on the popular video game character starring Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Neal McDonough, Tika Sumpter, and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sega's iconic Blue Bomber. As the tired story goes, the footage did not go over well with Sonic fans … like, at all. So enraged were they that Paramount opted to pull the project off their schedule, pushing the film into 2020 for a Valentine's Day release. The studio chose to delay the film because upon laying eyes on the golden ring-collecting critter, a section of fans were mortified by Sonic's human-looking teeth and absurdly jacked calf muscles. It was a whole thing, trust me.
Recently, a new look at Sega's iconic character cropped up online, thanks to the Sonic the Hedgehog news outlet Tails' Channel. Before we continue, I must remind you that the following redesign remains unconfirmed by Paramount, so be sure to view the image while chomping on a chili dog with extra salt. That being said, if this promo turns out to be a fake, I'll eat my hat. As you can see from the Twitter post below, the alleged redesign of Sonic looks much more like Sega's speedster than Paramount's original Muscle-Milk-infused rat with red shoes. Also, if you look closely, you can see Carrey's evil Dr. Robotnik peering over the movie's logo. Again, if this is a fake, it's got some nice touches going for it.
Upon further study of the new promo, you can see the words "Snap a pic & share," alongside the hashtag #CatchSonic. Presumably, this display is meant for theater floors, and invites guests to take a photo with Sonic. When Looking at the display, I assume fans will sandwich themselves between Sega's furry mascot and Robotnik's gopher-like positioning.
Of course, the question now is: Will the redesign be enough? Will Sonic fans ever be satisfied with the changes once they've been made public or is this whole situation nothing more than a CGI snake eating its own tail? Only time will tell, and honestly, I wish Team Sonic nothing but the best. Early reactions to the redesign have been mostly positive online, so perhaps we can start leaving this Sonic-gate business in the rear-view?
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG will race into theaters on February 14, 2019.