Photo: GeekTyrant
Sonic the Hedgehog, the anthropomorphic hedgehog and the main protagonist of the of the iconic video game series, is making his way to the big screen.
The official motion poster for Sonic the Hedgehog was released, and it offers fans their first look at what the iconic blue hedgehog will look like.
Take a look at the brand new motion poster for Sonic The Hedgehog right here! pic.twitter.com/15n5APqaM0
— IGN (@IGN) December 10, 2018
In the new movie, Sonic finds himself in a present-day world, where he befriends James Marsden’s Tom Wachowski and battles Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik. The production team involved with the film decided on a more realistic version of everyone’s favorite coin-hungry furball. The filmmakers can only compare the new movie to Ted when speaking on the movie’s integration of a computer-generated character into a real-world setting.
According to the filmmakers, the most difficult part about creating Sonic’s new design were his eyes, since he’s often only seen with one in the video games.
“I don’t think SEGA was entirely happy with the eye decision, but these sorts of things you go, ‘It’s going to look weird if we don’t do this.’ But everything is a discussion, and that’s kind of the goal, which is to only change what’s necessary and stay true to the rest of it,” executive producer Tim Miller told IGN. “He’s not going to feel like a Pixar character would because I don’t think that’s the right aesthetic to make it feel like part of our world.”
Then there’s the question of how Sonic’s speed—his most signature element—will come across on screen.
“The first thing you need to do is put limits on it. If you can do anything, nothing is special. For me, it’s always about keeping it grounded and keeping it realistic,” Miller said. “We had some time to figure out the speed: What it looks like, what it feels like for a character to do that and how it relates to our world. It took a little trial and error, but that’s animation in figuring out what the effect looks like and what it does to the rest of the world around it. The speed changes over time because he evolves, because he can’t do everything at the beginning of the movie. It’s finding the visual language and figuring out how it’s going to evolve over time.”
While Sonic’s role in the new film is firm, the involvement of other fan-favorite characters such as Tails and Knuckles is unknown. Producer Neal Moritz said, “I think the audience can expect to find some Easter eggs. We don’t want to reveal any of that stuff, but I think there will be some very exciting things that fans of Sonic will get to see in this movie.”
Sonic The Hedgehog arrives in theaters on November 8, 2019.
