The first trailer for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog film dropped earlier this week, with conversation among fans rapidly escalating from an upbeat Oh look, it’s Jim Carrey! sense of optimism to a thoroughly head-in-hands Oh look, they’ve gone and totally fucked it with the design of Sonic consensus.
Evoking comparisons with Homer Simpson’s disastrous attempt at building a BBQ pit, the Paramount and SEGA-produced movie’s strange, oh so very strange live-action depiction of the titular speedy hedgehog has prompted general bemusement and ridicule across the internet. Why did Sonic look like the kid from Jumanji? What’s with his unsettling, human-like legs? And the teeth: oh Lord, the teeth.
The online backlash to the design of Sonic has been so severe and damning that the film’s director, Jeff Fowler, announced a remarkable development in this sorry tale late last night: despite the film’s release date being just six months away, Sonic is now going to be redesigned.
Thank you for the support. And the criticism. The message is loud and clear… you aren't happy with the design & you want changes. It's going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be… #sonicmovie #gottafixfast 🔧✌️
— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 2, 2019
Never underestimate the power of the 280 character-wielding film/video game fan, we guess.
Given that Fowler and the powers that be at Paramount/SEGA have decided to quite literally go back to the drawing board, it’s conceivable that the production team might now do an online search for inspiration on how to ensure that their second attempt at bringing Sonic to life on the big screen doesn’t fall quite so flat. And they might be pleasantly surprised with what they find, too: a healthy selection of Sonic renderings have emerged in the past few days by a whole host of artists and animators keen to pitch their take on how Sonic should look in the forthcoming film.
Plenty of the illustrations are looking rather handsome, too. It’s funny how, by not straying too far from the classic character design we all know and love (bigger eyes, familiar Sonic proportions, generally looking less teenage fox-y and more hedgehog-y), it’s possible to come up with a Sonic that’s actually fit for the big screen and won’t bring out the spikiness of your prospective audience. Here, then, are some of the best fan redesigns for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
Sonic's movie design is… certainly something huh? Welp, here's my attempt at a redesign. #SonicMovie pic.twitter.com/PMLZAZhx9p
— ThePinkGalaxy (@ThePinkGalaxy55) May 2, 2019
So I guess the #SonicMovie2019 movie is redesigning Sonic's look. PTL! Here's my current fav fan redesign pic.twitter.com/O5b3A6yHFI
— Jeffrey Morse (@TheJeffreyMorse) May 2, 2019
i painted over a shot of the new sonic movie and it turned out a mix of classic and live action sonic lmao pic.twitter.com/RdJlXiY1ra
— Aimée (@AimeeUeda) April 30, 2019
Left is original screenshot. Right is my rework to make #Sonic more stylized. pic.twitter.com/IhXeAZYlQI
— Edward Pun (@EdwardPun1) April 30, 2019
Quick rework screenshot to make the proportion more stylized. #SonicMovie pic.twitter.com/pUU3RIA9oQ
— Edward Pun (@EdwardPun1) April 30, 2019
a bit rusty on my painting, but I tried doing a paintover of a shot from the movie trailer with Sonic's design from the games for fun pic.twitter.com/h6luDEVKWW
— Aaron Hammerstrom (@virtanderson) April 30, 2019
Sonic Movie paintover! I got inspired by a lot of artists that did their own version of a live-action Sonic. This is my take on it! Basically just a more realistic 3D version of his iconic design. #SonicTheHedgehog pic.twitter.com/93GogF5qHm
— Jao Picart ✍️ Commissions OPEN ✍️ (@jaopicksart) May 1, 2019
The missile scene from #SonicMovie Just wanted to draw this in the original Sonic design because it would look cool. I hope you like it! #sonicthehedgehogmovie pic.twitter.com/ekfLqUg4MP
— 💜Domestic (Commissions Open!)💜 (@domestichedgeh2) April 30, 2019
Plenty of impressive artistic pitches, if you ask us – Fowler and his production team might need to hire some of these creatives in order to meet that fast-approaching November 8 release date…
