What Saved Sonic The Hedgehog From Being A Box Office Flop?

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say Sonic the Hedgehog seemed to be barreling toward a box office flop. The problems with the movie really seemed to start from the very beginning of their marketing campaign. 

Sonic’s Beginning Of The End?

I’m talking about that ridiculous Golden Gate Bridge poster that showed off Sonic’s sexy calves. Oh, you don’t remember that poster? Don’t worry, I got you covered.

Things didn’t get much better after that. Not long after that poster, we saw the silhouette poster, which featured an …odd-looking shape. It didn’t at all resemble the hedgehog we know and love, but rather some odd, disturbingly-humanoid creature. You can check out that image down below:

And you know what? Things continued to get worse. We all remembered what happened next. The full reveal of Sonic himself came along and pretty much set the entire internet ablaze. If you don’t recall that very moment, you can check out that trailer down below.

Message Received

This could have — and should have — gone terribly for all parties involved. I mean, we need only look to the recent flop that is Cats to see how it could have turned out. It cold have stumbled into theaters, continued to terrify audiences, and been a footnote to a footnote of video game adaptations. But as we reported on previously, director Jeff Fowler thinks very highly of the fans of Sonic.

“It was just, ‘Message received.’ You gotta respect the fans,” Fowler said when asked about the fan backlash. “I mean, they’re the reason we had the opportunity to make this movie. They’ve loved Sonic for 30 years. You gotta listen to that. We were so excited about the story, had so much fun making the movie, and we really wanted the audience and core fans to be on board in a big way, and if that meant going back to the drawing board with Sonic, then we were happy to do it. And we could not be more excited about where we landed.”

RELATED – Sonic The Hedgehog Sets New Video Game Movie Record, World Implodes

What happened next was a big decision from the studio and the director. A decision to redesign Sonic and refocus their marketing.

“On paper if you look at everything that happened, you’d say this movie is in trouble. A lot of people would have written it off. Huge changes to marketing or the movie itself are usually a kiss of death because, generally speaking, it connects the film with something negative,” Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian said. “This was really a huge win because the studio was able to, in an efficient way, take that negative and turn it into a positive. It shows how important social media is to studios. It could be a new paradigm to take the temperature of the audience.”

“I can’t remember another time there’s been a reset, but it was incredibly smart of everyone involved to listen to the fans and  give them what they want,” Paramount’s president of domestic distribution Chris Aronson said. “The consumer always determines what is right and what is wrong. They made their voices clear, and we listened.”

Conclusion

So, what exactly led to the positive change in attitude for Sonic the Hedgehog? Is it simply that they reacted to fan outcry? That is definitely at least a little responsible. Perhaps what’s most important is that they understood why fans disliked it. As a result, they were able to fix it in a way that was acceptable.

However, we can’t forget one other crucial element: the movie itself. None of this would have mattered if the movie was the worst thing ever. While not many are saying GLOWING things about the film, it’s clear that the filmmakers have a deep love of the games and a similar love to many fans. That comes across in the film, and between that, the good faith they created with the redesign, and the fact there isn’t a lot of family film competition, it’s seemed to be a recipe for success.

What do you think made the biggest difference for Sonic the Hedgehog’s box office performance? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Variety

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