Sonic the Hedgehog’s success is guaranteed. The film set a record for the best opening weekend for a video game adaptation and it’s still bringing in film-watchers across the world. Despite its success, however, someSonicfans have some criticism for the movie. For example, why didSonic the Hedgehogfeature virtually none of Sonic’s best friends, like Knuckles? Sonic has historically always been surrounded by friends. Luckily, director Jeff Fowler has an answer for those fans.
Fowler’s answer isn’t particularly complicated or surprising. He says that with the firstSonicfilm in the studio’s plans, the goal was to keep things simple and focus on the important parts. Fowler says that the team’s focus was to, “just really try to nail Sonic and Robotnik and just set up their rivalry.” That’s likely why the look of Sonic was such a focus for the film, as well as picking up an actor likeJim Carrey to depict the nefarious Dr. Robotnik.
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Now that the first movie is out and successful, Fowler’s much more open to the possibility of other classicSoniccharacters coming into the picture. “We can kind of open it up and bring in some of these other characters that fans know and love,” Fowler said, “No one’s more excited than me to have that opportunity.” That’s not an outright confirmation ofKnucklesjoining the fray, but it’s a move in the right direction.
If Fowler’s word isn’t enough on the matter, fans should just watch the movie. At both the beginning and theend ofSonic the Hedgehog, there’s clear evidence that Fowler has big plans for theSonicmovie universe. The start of the movie features a race of enemies hunting Sonic down that look a whole lot like Knuckles, and they’re likely to show up again.
Then there’s the cameo of one of Sonic’s best friends at the end of the movie. Whatever form theSonicmovie sequeltakes, he’ll have at least one classic friend from the franchise helping out.
ASonic the Hedgehogsequel, which is probably inevitable at this point, is likely to be several years off. Three years tends to be Paramount’s production cycle, with a Detective Pikachu sequel likely being on the same schedule. That gives Fowler plenty of time to revisit theSonicgame franchise and figure out what seems fun to put in a movie. Given the success ofSonic the Hedgehog, he’ll probably lean toward not putting too much wildSoniccraziness into a sequel, but the inclusion ofTails and Knuckleswill hopefully make the cut.
Sonic the Hedgehogis available to watch in theaters now.
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