Sonic Movie Poster
Image: Paramount Pictures

Update: An extra million dollars between today and yesterday, and the official Sonic Movie Twitter has confirmed that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has indeed had the biggest opening weekend for any video game movie, sitting at a very healthy $72 million.

Original Story: Well, this happened at the speed of light. On Saturday, it looked like the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie was going to hit around $65 million at the US box office. Now the figures are in, and the blue blur has shattered the sound barrier and expectations.

Deadline reports that the sequel has smashed past $71 million in the US alone. That's a lot of rings! Predictions already noticed that it was on course to beat the original film's $58 million, but it has utterly destroyed it - and all of that is pretty impressive given the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie launched during the President's Weekend in 2020. Albeit right before the pandemic kicked off.

That means that the sequel displaces its predecessor and now has the biggest opening weekend for a video game movie ever. We can't help but think that's will culminate in huge numbers for Sonic's second outing on the big screen, which sees Tails and Knuckles join the ride.

Paramount Theatrical Distribution Boss Chris Aronson had this to say about the film's success:

“Sonic 2‘s record opening is a victory for Paramount and for the industry at large. The filmmakers did an amazing job of crafting a film that is both in service of Sonic’s legions of fans as well as the general and family audience. Growing a franchise is no small feat and having an opening +22% over the first film is a remarkable achievement. Kudos to the filmmakers and to the marketing and distributions teams at Paramount for doing a fantastic job in bringing the film into the global marketplace!”

These aren't the only impressive stats for the film, which internationally grossed a further $37 million. In total, the film has made $141 million, which also makes it Paramount Studio's biggest opening weekend since 2014. The blue hedgehog is also firmly putting Detective Pikachu back in its Poké Ball for the second time, which made just over $54 million back in 2019.

It's no surprise the film has done so well, given what our sister site Push Square had to say about the film: "The script is funnier, the action is more exciting, and locations are more varied and interesting. Reverence for the source material can be found everywhere, too."

The official Sonic movie Twitter account got in on the celebrations as Sonic reigns at the top of the box office, as they shared more video game-inspired art.

This is a fabulous nod to the title screen of the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 game, and we adore it, but we have to ask - what's Paramount's obsession with making Tails look so grumpy?

These little nods are appropriate to the film, which pays so many homages and references to the video game series it's based on. Sonic fans will find no shortage of things to pick out, and it's much easier than trying to get all seven Chaos Emeralds, that's for sure!

We're already going to get more Sonic films, as the third film has been in production since before the second hit, along with a whole Sonic cinematic universe, so there's no slowing down for a chili dog-eating friend. Though Jim Carey, who has made Dr. Robotnik his own, is considering retiring from acting entirely:

If you've been to see Sonic the Hedgehog 2, let us know what you thought of it (without spoiling anything, of course) in the comments below!

[source deadline.com, via pushsquare.com]