Sonic the Hedgehog, directed by Jeff Fowler. Written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller. Starring Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, and Jim Carrey. Paramount Pictures, 2020. Rated PG.
Sonic the Hedgehog is probably most memorable not for its content but for its disastrous roll-out, which will be the stuff of movie legend: Early previews delivered a weird design for the famous blue hedgehog, who had creepy, tiny eyes and bizarre proportions. After this received overwhelmingly negative responses from fans, presaging a bomb, the studio hastily redid the character model to bring it in line with Sonic’s appearance in video games and cartoons.
The end result was the—so far—highest-grossing movie based on a video game. At least part of that box-office success was driven by the goodwill of fans impressed that a studio had listened to their complaints.