'Sonic the Hedgehog' sequel under development, confirms Paramount Pictures

Sonic the Hedgehog was released on February 14, 2020. The movie received praises and was a box office success. Since then, talks about a sequel were doing the rounds. Now, it is reported that Sonic sequel has been given the green light by Paramount Pictures. Read to know more.

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Sonic the Hedgehog sequel confirmed

Sega Sammy and Paramount Pictures have recently confirmed that they have begun development on a live-action sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog. Jeff Fowler, who helmed the first part as his feature directorial debut, will return as the director and reteam with screenwriters, Pat Casey and Josh Miller. The decision about the cast has not been revealed yet as the movie has just commenced the work.

Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher and Toru Nakahara will be producing the movie. Hajime Satomi, Haruki Satomi and Tim Miller will serve as the executive producers. Filmmaker Fowler tweeted, “ROUND TWO WITH THE BLUE!!” along with a rock sign and blue heart emoji.

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Sonic the Hedgehog stars Ben Schwartz as the voice of the titular character with Jim Carrey as Doctor Robotnik as well as James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, and Neal McDonough. In the film, Sonic teams up with local town sheriff Tom Wachowski to find his lost rings and escape Dr. Robotnik. It is based on the video game franchise published by Sega.

According to reports, the development on Sonic the Hedgehog started in the 1990s but could not move further until Sony Pictures acquired the rights in 2013. Paramount Pictures came in when Sony put the project in a turnaround deal in 2017, which delayed its planned release of 2018. The first trailer of Sonic received criticism from the viewers as the animation was called different from the original character.

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Following backlashes on social media, Sonic the Hedgehog went under redesign. The work on VFX reportedly cost around $30 million with the budget going up to $125 million. Then the movie was pushed ahead from November 8, 2019 to February 14, 2020.  The world premiere took place in Los Angeles on January 25, 2020 at the Paramount Theatre.

Sonic the Hedgehog opened to great responses from the critics as well as the audiences. It set the record for the biggest opening weekend for a video game film in the United States and Canada. The movie grossed around $306 million worldwide, becoming the second highest-grossing film of 2020, and the highest-grossing video game film adaptation of all time in North America. 

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