Earlier in the year, we got quite a surprise. Not only did a live action Sonic the Hedgehog film release, it was actually pretty good. And not only was it pretty good, but it actually was an unexpected success. Due to COVID-19, the movie industry is largely shut down, but the virus will one day go away or be defeated (or, at least, we hope anyway), so deals are still out to be made, and it seems a sequel is coming.

It was reported earlier that a sequel had officially been green lit by Paramount Pictures. As reported via Variety, the film now has an official release date coming out just under two years from now. As it stands, there’s no details about plot or who will be reprising their roles.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is set to race into theaters on April 8th of 2020, and let’s hope this time a multi-month delay isn’t in the cards like the first movie. As far as that original film, it’s available now on home media as well as all major VOD services.

Ever since the first game released on the PS3, the Uncharted series has been noted for its movie-like cinematic nature. With four mainline entries and one spinoff, developer Naughty Dog has used the series to evolve that cinematic-based storytelling into what we know of them today. Well, things seem to have come full circle, as the movie-like game is finally getting its own Hollywood movie.

Actor Tom Holland, who is set to play Nathan Drake, posted a picture of his on-set chair on his Instagram page with the caption, “day one”. Many assumed that this meant filming had started, but most projects in Hollywood have been suspended or closed due to COVID-19. Sony confirmed to GamesRadar that physical shooting had not begun just yet, but that they are looking to “start soon” and the film’s cast and crew are prepping for that.

The project has been talked about for quite some time, with multiple Directors and actors coming and going before landing here. The Uncharted film is set to release in summer of 2021.

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The late ’90s were a time when video games were exploding into the mainstream, and at the same time so was the hobby of skateboarding. It’s hard to describe what it was like when those two things found themselves merging with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. The game would release in 1999 for the original PlayStation, eventually be ported to just about everything under the sun, and spawn a series that would last multiple generations. Now, a new documentary looks to detail it next month.

Pretending I’m a Superman will go into detail about how the two budding hobbies collided with interviews from the man himself, Tony Hawk, as well as many other professional skaters who became involved in the project such as Steve Caballero, Rodney Mullen, Chad Muska and Jamie Thomas. It will be produced by Ralph D’Amato, who was a longtime Producer of the series all the way up to 2006’s Tony Hawk’s Project 8. You can see the trailer for it below.

The documentary will release on all major streaming services August 18th. It’ll come just in time for the demo of the upcoming Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 remasters, which is set to release sometime in August. The full game will release on September 4th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

When it was racing into theaters, many expected Sonic the Hedgehog to be a disaster. From the mixing of animation and live action (something that rarely works), to the general track record of video game movie adaptations, and the less than stellar trailers, it looked to just be running right off a cliff. However, that wasn’t the case, and the film was surprisingly charming and ended up finding some good box office success. That’s why it was such a surprise when the movie’s Director said no sequel was in the works. Though, that seems to have changed.

Variety has reported that Paramount and Sega have given the go ahead for a sequel to the film. Director Jeff Fowler will return, as well Pat Casey and Josh Miller to pen the script. That’s all of the details provided at the moment.

As of right now, most of Hollywood is shut down due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. So, it will probably be a good while before this enters into full production. In the meantime, if you haven’t checked out the first film, give it a look.

In the year 2020, we had a Sonic the Hedgehog live action film adaptation. It was real. I saw it. Not only that, but in this year of 2020, the movie grossed more than the first live action Pokemon film, Detective Pikachu. What a world. However, despite that success, it seems a sequel is not in the works, at least not yet, though the Director is keen to get back into Sonic’s world.

The film’s Director, Jeff Fowler, confirmed to USA Today that a sequel was not in the works despite the film’s surprise success. He does want to continue on however, and would love to revisit the film world of Sonic and maybe even expand it into a full cinematic universe. If you’ve seen the movie, you know there’s also lots of sequel-baiting, so that part is easy to see.

“There’s so many great characters to bring in and just more stories to tell, [but] nothing would bring me more happiness than getting another shot with these characters and to tell more stories. We’d love to do more with the Sonic cinematic universe.”

Of course, one thing to keep in mind is that most of Hollywood is sort of on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic with almost all major productions being halted. Considering the success of Sonic the Hedgehog, it won’t be all too surprising to see a sequel greenlit once things normalize. The film is available now to buy and rent, so check it out if you got time to kill.

Who would have thought in this, the year 2020, that Sonic the Hedgehog would have had a live action film adaptation? And even more so, who would have thought it would have the highest grossing domestic box office of any video game adaptation ever? It sure was unexpected, and for those waiting for a home release (or being forced to self-isolate due to the current situation), you’re in for a treat.

As announced by Paramount Pictures, Sonic the Hedgehog will be debuting early for digital purchase courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment on March 31, less than a week from now. For comparison, the physical copies won’t come out until May 19th, so you’ll be able to grab this one digitally way earlier. This is part of a concentrated effort by several major film studios to release movies quickly to digital platforms because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has forced many to stay home.

Sonic the Hedgehog was a surprise hit and a pretty solid little film. It’s worth checking out when it hits all major digital services on March 31st, if you haven’t seen it already.

Me waiting until March 31st pic.twitter.com/FByLmM8KSG

— Sonic the Cosplayer  (@sonic_cosplayer) March 20, 2020

When it comes to the two franchises, there’s really no question about which one is bigger between Sonic and Pokemon. While Sonic still enjoys a strong following, Pokemon is one of the largest media IPs in the world, and is one of the few franchises that manage to have at least one entry on a yearly basis and still be massively successful. But, as today will show, that doesn’t necessarily equate to every facet of entertainment.

As reported via BoxOfficeReport, the Sonic the Hedgehog film has now passed Detective Pikachu at the domestic US box office. Sonic is now at $145.81 million, vs the $141.11 million that Detective Pikachu ended at. Considering how Sonic still has time at the box office, too, it will likely demolish that going forward.

Detective Pikachu‘s overall worldwide box office is still ahead, but that’s largely because Sonic has not opened in China, which has evolved into a huge film market. But even still, who would have thought the blue hedgehog could muster such a feat in this day and age.

Sonic The Hedgehog grossed an estimated $2.58M this weekend. Total gross stands at $145.81M.

The film has now passed the $144.11M total domestic gross of Detective Pikachu.#SonicMovie #SonicTheHedgehog #BoxOffice @ParamountPics @SonicMovie

— BoxOfficeReport.com (@BORReport) March 15, 2020

What a world we will live. If you would have told me that a Sonic the Hedgehog live action adaptation would not only be successful, but would handily beat the opening weekend record for the first ever live action Pokemon title, I could not have believed that. But yet, here we are. The blue hedgehog with attitude is still running the race, as the film has cleared another big milestone.

As stated in a press release by Sega, the film has now passed $200 million at the global box office. Considering that the movie has been out only two weeks that’s a pretty incredible number, and it’s still yet to release in some major regions such as Japan and China.

For reference, Detective Pikachu ended its run with an estimated $433 worldwide gross. While Sonic has a ways to go to reach that, it seems to have some good legs (no pun intended), and could very well pass it.

Sonic the Hedgehog‘s first film trailer caused quite the big stir when it was revealed last year due the titular character’s bizarre design. It was delayed with the model being significantly redesigned to something much closer to the game design. The film is out now, and critically speaking, it’s about where most expect it to land (aka not very good), but from a financial standpoint it seems the film struck a chord.

As reported via The Hollywood Reporter, the film raced to an incredible $57 million at the domestic box office over the three day weekend with a four day gross estimated to hit at about $68 million. This puts it above Detective Pikachu‘s $54 million box office draw as the most successful video game opening weekend of all time, and even beat out the Pokemon adaptation for opening day by a hair with $21 million vs $20.5 million. Not only that, it actually is the biggest opening weekend for studio Paramount since the last Mission Impossible film.

Sounds like a Sonic sequel is pretty much all but guaranteed at this point. The film is running in theaters worldwide now.

Call me the cynic, but I have a strong feeling that the story behind the reveal of the Sonic the Hedgehog film will be far more interesting than anything in the film itself. By now, we all know the story: the film trailer was shown and backlash to Sonic’s unexpected design caused a delay to the film for a redesign. We’ve heard that redesign cost about $5 million dollars, but how long did it take? Well, reportedly, almost half a year.

Taking to an Armenian Sonic fansite (as translated via Tails’ Channel), Animator Max Schneider revealed that the redesign took about 5 months altogether. He said they started with the face, took the model from the first trailer and a modern model of Sonic and went from there. He also said that the process was done without excessive crunch/overtime work.

“We were personally told that to change Sonic’s model, nearly 5 months of work were necessary & they started working on the face,” Schneider said. “To make the redesign, they had the model from the first trailer and a model of Modern Sonic. With this method, they compared & checked what they could change to reach a balance between both models.”

I can’t say I think the movie will be particularly good, but at least Sonic looks closer to what you expect at this point. Hopefully, it’ll be a fun romp for fans when it releases in cinemas early next year.