The ugly Sonic movie changed the way Hollywood makes video game movies

The vocal rejection of Sonic’s original movie design has led to much greater scrutiny within Hollywood for getting video game adaptations right.

That’s according to the company behind the now very successful Sonic the Hedgehog movie franchise, Paramount Pictures.

“Every design is now scrutinized within an inch of its lifespan,” marketing chief Mark Weinstock told the Wall Street Journal, reflecting on how Sonic was quickly redesigned after widespread online upset.

Back in 2020, Paramount showed off the first proper look at a Sonic movie, and the internet bounced. People didn’t like the teeth. His legs were really weird. Even Sonic creator Yuji Naka got involved (this was before he was arrested for insider trading).

“The message is loud and clear…” Sonic movie director Jeff Fowler admitted at the time. The film was subsequently delayed, and Sonic’s design was changed to be much closer to the character’s appearance in his video games.

Now, the Sonic film franchise has a third film on the way, a spin-off TV series, and is set to cross the $1 billion mark this year.

The Wall Street Journal report notes that Hollywood executives are now turning to Discord and Reddit to get fan feedback from gaming communities, as the number of video game adaptations for the big screen — and on TV — grows.

Another video game adaptation from Paramount that has raised eyebrows among fans recently is the Halo TV series, which eschewed the long-standing series tradition of never showing Master Chief’s face. Not only did viewers get to see Chief quickly take off his helmet, but they also got to see him take off everything else as well – a decision that divided fans, and even the series’ lead actor.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Xbox entertainment president and Halo veteran Kiki Wolfkill admitted that Microsoft knew the series would be controversial — and that the show’s second season would be closer to the games in tone.

“It was hard for fans to swallow the places where we deviated from the canon if the execution wasn’t there and the tone wasn’t there,” Wolfkill admitted.

It looks like the next big video game installment will be the Fallout TV series, which will launch on Amazon Prime next month. This seems to stick relatively closely to its source material, with marketing that feels like it’s designed to engage fans eager to hunt for clues and Easter eggs.