By now, everyone knows the initial reaction to the Sonic the Hedgehog film trailer was pretty negative. The negativity mostly focused on the design of the titular Hedgehog. The backlash was enough that the film was delayed to redesign Sonic, and the redesign ended up looking much closer to the game design, thanks in large part to the Sonic Mania animator. But how much does it cost to delay a film and redesign a digital character? Well, it ain’t cheap.
According to a report by IndieWire, a source close to the production of the film said the cost of the redesign was roughly $5 million. That’s quite a chunk of change in and of itself, but the report actually was in reaction to a previous report saying it cost $35 million, which was later retracted.
The film will release in February of next year. While it’s up in the air whether or not it will be any good, and the track record for game to film adaptations aren’t great, at least Sonic will look close to his classic self.