Looking to launch a new family film franchise, Sony Pictures Entertainment has teamed with SEGA Sammy Group division Marza Animation Planet to develop a hybrid/live action and CG-animated feature film based on the Sonic The Hedgehog video game series. The film will be scripted by Evan Susser and Van Robichaux. 22 Jump Street’s Neal H. Moritz will produce through his Original Film banner, with Marza’s Takeshi Ito and Mie Onishi. Toby Ascher will be exec producer.
The plan is to release one movie per year. Pic will focus on Sonic’s rivalry with characters from the vidgame, including his evil nemesis Dr. Eggman. Sonic uses his stature as world’s fastest hedgehog to move at supersonic speed to protect his friends from their enemies. The game has been around two decades, selling over 140 million games and generating $1 billion in revenues.
Said Sony Pictures production president Hannah Minghella: “There are limitless stories to tell with a character like Sonic the Hedgehog, and a built-in international fan base. Along with our wonderful creative partners at Marza, we’re looking to capture everything that generations of fans know and love about Sonic while also growing his audience wider than ever before.”
Marza Animation Planet CEO Masanao Maeda added, “Sonic has had dozens of adventures on the console and the small screen, and we’re thrilled that he’s now coming to the big screen. Sony Pictures has had great success with hybrid animated and live-action features, and we’re confident that this collaboration will bring a fresh take to Sonic, while still capturing everything that the fans love about him.” Minghella and Andrea Giannetti will oversee for Sony.
One question: Why?
“The game has been around two decades, selling over 140 million games and generating $1 billion in revenues.”
By that logic, we should be seeing “MCDONALD’S FRIES: THE MOVIE!” any day now. I would be very surprised if this ever gets made and more so if it ends up being a hit. A movie every year is a pipe dream amongst pipe dreams.
Already exists, it’s called “Super Size Me”.
Also, your flawless logic somehow doesn’t account for the fact that fries would make a rather boring lead character.
Anyone who knows games knows Sonic is all but dead. Game after game that’s been a disaster in both sales and quality.
Exactly! Sonic has completely failed as a modern video game character, so clearly he’s perfect for the big screen…
Well people seem to be buying the mobile phone sonic games. So, obviously he hasn’t failed completely.
Anyone who *really* knows games knows that only one Sonic game has been a total disaster, and that was Sonic 2006. The games that followed, namely Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations introduced and refined a new engine and new gameplay paradigms that have become dear to many.
As far as spin-offs are concerned, or “games with Sonic” rather than “Sonic games”, the two Sonic All-Stars Racing games are excellent and critically acclaimed. And the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series is known for printing money.
Actually, Internet myths aside, when counting only facts, Colors was a bigger disaster than 06. It didn’t really sell that well and all criticism was swayed by “This game is now playable, so if you are pointing out any problems in it, you are the problem!”
Which of course still didn’t make people to buy it and like it.
Olympic games are printing money because of casuals. It’s a sports game. The newest Olympic entries don’t sell either. Soon, this Olypic experiment will vanish.
Leave it to Sony to be 2 decades behind. Coming next summer, Rugrats: The Movie!
ha, truth!
One answer: Money.
Why is Sony so obsessed with making their animated fare a combination of cgi and live-action? This could work very well as a fully-animated movie, but the idea of incorporating live-action elements kind of baffles me. Having Sonic come to the real world would be super-lame and you’d have thought that Sony would’ve learnt that lesson after their Smurfs franchise cratered.
They are executives. They only know how to fail.
“The plan is to release one movie per year.”
Uh, right.
Thanks Disney.
It was wise for Sony to leave this out of their E3 presser. That lame ‘Ratchet and Clank’ film plug was bad enough as it was.
I Am A Sonic Fan, BUT KILL ME NOW.
Okay!
–Gladly spin-dashes ThatGuyWhoLikesSonic in pieces–
This movie will make loads of money. If they can re-invent the smurfs, and Alvin and The Chipmunks which had zero recognition amongst the generation it was made for and promoted to, then they can do the same and potentially more with Sonic. The built-in video game crossover potential is going to be huge. Robichaux and Susser are nothing to sneeze at. Funny guys, with a sharp and current writing style. Congrats to them and all involved!!!!
Sega spends money on this garbage but no Shenmue III. Firing half of their Sega West full time staff in the last three years. Failing to localize almost every single game they publish in Japan. Brilliant direction from the top. David Rosen must be ashamed at what his company turned into.
no one has turned on let alone played a sega console since ’93…should be fun sorting out the fan base who I’m guessing are parents in their 40’s now?
Sega still makes games. Do you know anything or are you just here for the snark?
Ha ha ha Amen to this
I’ve been waiting for this moment!But seriously, a hybrid? I am a Sonic fan so I will watch this no matter what, but it would’ve been even more aweome if it were fully animated. I mean, is this gonna be another smurfs movie? Either way, Sega and Sony, I will be paying close attention to updates on the up-coming film.And for whoever thinks that Sonic fans are only some 40 year-olds isn’t very bright. I’m WAY younger than that and I’m a HUGE Fan.
Agreed.
“…Sony Pictures has had great success with hybrid animated and live-action features…”
Wow. I’m sorry, a cgi/live-action film featuring an animated character with exaggerated features, actually “succeeded”? Maybe if Sonic actually had the appearance of a hedgehog in the way that Spiderman’s Lizard had the appearance of a… well, lizard, then it might work. As it is, however, this particular hybridization method being applied to Sonic for a feature film gives it no more potential than a cheap laugh-and-forget family flick like Smurfs. The idea of Sonic being given this kind of treatment before any full cgi consideration is simply atrocious.