It's official, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie has been a huge success. A Sega Sammy press release reveals the blue blur's box office debut, co-produced by Paramount Pictures and Sega, has made close to $210 million in just ten days.
The film came out on Valentine's Day in the US, and in its opening weekend managed to bank $58,018,348 domestically. This outpaces Detective Pikachu's opening weekend, which made $54.3 million:
"Sonic the Hedgehog" was released on February 14th, starting on 4,167 screens in the U.S. and more across the globe. It recorded a three-day opening weekend of $58,018,348 domestically, breaking the previously held record for the three-day opening of a video game adaptation of $54.3 million set by “Detective Pikachu,” and marking a new page in the history of video game films
Sonic didn't slow down in the second week, either – grossing $26,192,294 domestically and raising its total US earnings to $107,704,000. On the international front, as of 25th February, the film has made $102,268,213. This brings the worldwide box office total to just under $210 million.
Sonic the Hedgehog will arrive in Japanese cinemas on 27th March.
Comments 52
I guess Sega really does what Nintendon't.
I haven't seen it but I feel like that this sort of film shouldn't define the Sonic character in future games kinda like the speculated influence the Resident Evil movies had on R.E. 4, 5, and 6.
Sonic has been obnoxious and overly goofy in the last few games just to remedy the backlash from more serious portrayals like Shadow The Hedgehog and Sonic '06.
Yeah, no thanks. Still not interested in this. I guess I have to acknowledge that people enjoy it but that doesn't mean I will.
I'm in the extreme minority, at least among English speakers, who don't like live action versions of previously animated content. It's very rare that I do. I can't say never, but very rarely.
Went to watch it, surprisingly a really good film. Likeable characters, coherent plot and action is really good.
I dislike the movie, and Detective Pika was way better. However I can respect the producers for taking a bad franchise and putting it in a live action movie without it being a disaster. Neat
@Toy_Link Jury's not out on that yet. We've yet to see anything of the Mario movie.
@PBandSmelly In my opinion both are great movies who took their source material and made good stories out of them.
it might make money with is great
I wonder what the profits would have been without the redesign.
I liked it, and it was better than I expected. It did a great job of setting up sonic, Eggman and co for future movies as well. And it left open enough space for a prequel.
It's a much simpler movie than detective Pikachu.
Epic! I loved the movie so much, and I got the Sonic Build-A-Bear from my girlfriend as a Valentine's day gift!
Helps when you don't have to compete with insanly big movie releases like Detective Pika.
@Heavyarms55
Can't say I am all that interested either
Will be interesting to see what the Mario movie does.
People who are writing it off really should give it a chance. It was surprisingly good. I’ll be surprised if Mario manages to be that charming. I was skeptical but I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I agree live action versions of games generally don’t turn out good. This was an exception.
I’ll echo what others have said, this film is a lot of fun and definitely worth seeing, especially if you like old school Jim Carrey, he was really great in this film.
Other than Sonic, the movie really had nothing to do with the game but it was a fun movie and glad that it made profit for both Paramount and Sega.
... and the sea of mediocrity becomes more turbid by the second. By this rate- we are all gonna drown in it by the end of the next decade. -vomits-
Just finished a load of conversation with a friend about where it can go from here. Obviously back to Mobius but it definitely seems like they'll (unfortunately) want to stick to Earth. Avoiding spoilers as much as possible, friend posited the use of the Super Emeralds and Shadow across a 2nd and 3rd movie — highly unlikely.
Would the Genesis Generation appreciate the Super Emeralds? Absolutely. Shadow? Only a niche.
Would the target market appreciate Shadow? Absolutely. The Super Emeralds? Not really, even if the movie makers were somehow allowed to use them.
I think a sequel would stick only to the most iconic characters. Say, likely, the "Top 5" from the 16-Bit days.
Personally thought detective pikachu was a better film. Don’t get me wrong, this movies pretty good too, and does deserve the money it’s taking in. It’s actually quite an interesting portrayal of the blue blur.
@Maschinenmensch I think we’re more likely to drown in a sea of negativity first.
@ShadJV
Why ?
I mean if I have very little interest in watching the movie, why would i give it a chance, instead of spending my time and money on something I do want to watch ?
Not everybody has the like the same thing. This is a childrens movie first and foremost.
I don't even like sonic that much I've always been one off those Tails fans.
Yeah one of those weirdo's
I'll probably watch this (not yet released in my country) solely for Jim Carrey and the movie being a rival to Detective Pikachu.
@Toy_Link Like leave the console business after only one success and countless failures?
Now only if Sega can some how give the game the same love
@BulkSlash Jim Carrey is the reason i won't watch it
This movie isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I personally think it is needed for the industry.
Sonic is reaching a new audience with this and making a splash outside of console gaming, and that is good for all of us gamers.
We often see things from the perspective of what we like or dislike. And some of us actually want gaming to be niche. But that doesn’t help the industry.
If this movie can get more kids into gaming that is good. If parents can share an experience with their child and they both enjoy the same characters, that helps parents bond with kids more and helps gaming be more acceptable in homes.
There are a lot of aspects as to why this is good or at least can be.
@PBandSmelly A bad franchise????
I saw the movie, and I have to say it isn't excellent. For me, it is on the same level as the Smurfs and the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. A 5/10 movie at best. I think the reason why people say it is so good is that they had shallow expectations for this movie because of the hideous first design of Sonic and poorly made first trailer.
The writing is still very atrocious in my eyes. I mean, what was up with the owl at the beginning? Why an owl? What was that all about? I know that Sonic is popular because of his appealing design, but a good design can not save a movie from terrible writing.
But how much did it cost to change that sonic look? Are they break-even yet?
@Joriss
Probably not hat much, because of they fired all of the people that changed Sonic's design.
@Kienda I totally agree. The success of both Sonic and Detective Pikachu in theaters is only a good thing. If Illumination's Mario movie does well, hopefully we'll end up with a renaissance of enjoyable video game films that actually respect the games they came from.
Looking forward to seeing this looks like good light hearted FUN x x x
Detective Pika-WHO?
Birds Of Who?
Sonic. End of story. 🤘❤🤘
I havent seen it yet, but wow! Never expected it to do so well. Even many critics who bashed the movie before they even saw it said its a fun movie.
Glad it has been successful, looking forward to seeing it myself with my mate and son.
This is a really good, fun movie. As long as you remember it's a children's film, anyone watching it will have a good time.
I also really like the depth they gave to Sonic's character. Really made me feel sorry for him.
@RareFan or maybe it is seen as great when compared to the all of the woke crap that Hollywood has shat out in recent years, what with destroying established franchises and endless remakes
@PlayedNSlayed
This is probably also a reason, why people like this movie so much.
@Heavyarms55 See to me I can look at it differently. I don't like video game to movie concepts either but because I don't like Sonic games I can look at this as just a "cute adventure" film. It won't ruin my already imagined idea of what Sonic would be like. Even as a die hard Sega fan, Sonic never appealed to me. Who knows if I'll see it..I guess it depends if it hits Netflix or whatever...
It's not a huge success : it's just "good". Or "OK".
Remember that when you buy a 10$ ticket, about 3.33 goes to the theater, 3.33 to the distributor (to cover the marketing, which cost about ... 1/3 of the budget) and 3.33 to the producers.
(Those are not the exact numbers but let's simplify it this way because that's the idea).
So if a movie costs 85M$ like Sonic does, it must make 3 times this number to refund its producing budget.
Sonic must make 255M$ to refund itself.
It has been released worlwide since 2 weeks, and is way far under what made Pokemon outside of the US.
So if you follow the tendencies of the worldwide market, it should make between 300-320 in the end. Which is good for a 85M$ movie. But not great and certainly not "a huge success".
When you know how things work in Hollywood, it's obvious that with Sonic and Jim Carrey on the poster, producers were expecting to make more money.
A sequel will cost more money mostly because of the actors who will ask a far bigger paycheck. So it's not quite sure they will greenlight it. Because if Sonic 2 makes 300-320 again, it might not be enough this time. That's a risk.
I went to see it with one of the guys I care for and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a good "kid's" film. There are some incredibly cringey moments, but I can see why it's done so well. I doubt I'd see it again, but if they do a sequel, I'd be quite happy to check it out.
How great. Now I can get back to ignoring this IP completely.
@smashboy2000 that's a good point, but I guess the movie is good because it already has a positive balance, whereas it was really meant to make the videogame sales increase. Which is where it's gonna fail for the second time.
My favorite film is doin' good
(yes, I am very biased)
@Snow-Dust I also saw it in the Cinema last week and I was pleasantly suprised. It was a nice movie! Especially for the kids!
My 8 year old son was laughing and glowing all through the movie! That is all that matters! Not the old fart so called pro reviewers who dislike any movie that is not worthy Oscar material and are completely incapable of reviewing kid movies! It's the same ol' same ol', time and again!
The best part of the movie was the ending credits. You get to see entire movie in classic 2D 90s Sega Genesis/Sega CD fashion. Having been genesis owner first (per my dad's), lots of feel good nostalgia
@PBandSmelly finally someone who agrees with me. It was mediocre at best. Only two jokes made me laugh. The breast feeding one and the egg sac joke. Also I was laughing so hard when sonic screamed I will always be alone. It reminded me of the sonic memes,"the problem of being faster than light os that I'm always in the darkness," and the "I cant run from my pain" meme.
@KitsuneNight the movie was mediocre at best. A good movie to see with your friends while you mess around
Sonic movie has already aired at my local cinemas in Indonesia.
Yay...! 😃
I went to see it last weekend with my nieces and nephew, i wasn't expecting much as i usually hate live-action versions of any animated licence but i have to give credit where it is due, i ended up thoroughly enjoying it, it's way better than it has any right to be, really. I'm pretty excited for the sequel and to see how many of the franchises characters will end up being brought into the story, it's one thing to add Tails and Knuckles, but seeing how Amy or Big would fit in is another story haha!
But you have to convert what Detective Pikachu made into 2020 money, first.
Sonic movie spent too much time driving in a truck, but was otherwise pretty decent...honestly, the ending + post-credits made it all worth it (so the sequel had better be amazing). Pikachu was a more entertaining romp, but had a pretty terrible ending.
@Elvie it was the gameplay that really broke them.
in 06 it was more the fault of it being a buggy rushed mess & in shadow the hedgehog's case it was the poorly designed gameplay & the controls being a good bit glitchy. you could occasionally commit suicide by using the homing attack. the way the story choices where put into the game-play with all of them being ultimately meanness didn't help either.
also, being too serious has never really broken sonic stuff. hell, just look at how the idw comic currently is and is actually better for it.
@Shadowmoon522 I'm focusing more on the current characterization of Sonic rather than the gameplay or the success of the franchise altogether.
SEGA has taken the reception from those games as an indicator that people grew tired of their serious tones when the actual problem was that the plots in those games were just not good.
That is why post-'06 efforts like Sonic Colors have been lighthearted. That may had been fine if they actually put effort into it. For example, Sonic Generations was an alright game in most regards, but the plot was clearly an rushed afterthought and Sonic's personality was reduced to making lame jokes throughout the story.
I'm hoping that the Sonic film doesn't convinve SEGA to reinforce lazy and cringey writing where Sonic is just a stand up comedian that saves the world. He doesn't need to be dramatic or comedic, he just needs to be decently written as a character.
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