When Sonic the Hedgehog hit theaters in February 2020, no one could have predicted that it would be a huge box office success—or that it would spark a new wave of video game adaptations, most of which have enjoyed similar success. But it’s not the first time someone has tried to bring the blue blur to the big screen. In 1992, when Sonic was at the height of his popularity, Sega has teamed up with MGM Studios to develop a Sonic movie to tie in with an upcoming game. But the failure of other video game adaptations and the declining popularity of Sonic meant that this planned film never saw the light of day. But the question remains: What exactly would a Sonic the Hedgehog What would the film have been like in 1993?

The movie “Sonic the Hedgehog” was linked to a video game and brought Sonic (literally) to life

The then Director of Entertainment and Consumer Products at Sega of America, Michealene Risley brought the idea of ​​a Sonic movie to market after managing a deal for two Sonic the Hedgehog animated series. “I basically pushed the Sonic movie. I don’t know who came up with the idea… but coming from the film world, I’ve always pushed these things. And when we got the green light from Japan to go ahead with the movie, it was a very small group of us working on it,” she told Kotaku when discussing the genesis of the original Sonic movie pitch. Risley turned to Edward Pressmanwho acted as producer on The Crow and the live action Street Fighter Film.

Screenwriter Richard Jeffries developed a treatment called Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World about a boy named Josh who is struggling with the twin pitfalls of puberty and co-parenting. When Josh’s father, who is also a brilliant scientist, picks him up from school, Josh decides to use an experimental computer to help him with his schoolwork – he locks up a Sonic the Hedgehog Game for demonstration. This brings Sonic into the real worldwhere he befriends Josh. But trouble is not far away, because Sonic’s arch-enemy Dr. Robotnik is also out in the real world, searching for the power of the Chaos Emeralds. In a major twist, Sonic would have been designed entirely in 3D CGI – a rarity in the 90s.

Several factors led to the film “Sonic the Hedgehog” being put on hold

Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World should also build on with the release of the Sega Saturn game consoleand there was even a Sonic game in the works for the said console, called Sonic X-TremeJeffries rewrote his treatment Sonic X-Treme‘s story, even in conversation with lead sound programmer Yuji NakaBut things went wrong when Sonic X-Treme was cancelled; the Saturn itself suffered from an early launch and buggy software and was eventually replaced by the Dreamcast (which had a much more successful run and had its own Sonic game in Sonic Adventure). Jefferies expressed his own view:

“My feeling at the time – and I could be wrong – but the reason movies fall apart between Hollywood and the gaming world is because each party feels they should have 75% of the deal. Just for financial reasons. But it could be that the focus groups at Sega weren’t responding to the development of the character and the character’s heyday was behind them. Maybe they hoped a movie could help revive that. But maybe it was a reaction to Sonic’s direction, and maybe MGM came to that conclusion themselves. I don’t know.”

It didn’t help that video game adaptations at the time were neither popular with critics nor successful at the box office. Super Mario Bros And Street Fighter both received only moderate reviews upon their debut, so Sega and MGM may have feared Wonders of the world would suffer the same fate. Sonic would finally hit the big screen in 2020, courtesy of Jeff Fowler and Paramount.

The Sonic the Hedgehog movies retain this element from the rejected pitch

Fowler’s sound Movies contain a lot of knowledge from the video games, including the highly anticipated Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (which finally makes Shadow the Hedgehog a reality). But it also has a key element with Wonders of the worldnamely the fact that Sonic has a human companion. In the first Sonic the HedgehogSonic travels to Earth as a child and grows up in the city of Green Hills. When Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) begins to hunt him, Sonic finds an unexpected ally in Green Hills’ Sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) and his wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter). This will also be continued in the spin-off series ankleWhere Idris ElbaEchidna, the title character of the film, teaches Tom’s deputy sheriff Wade Whipple (Adam Pally) how to become a great warrior. Admittedly, the interaction between adults and a fast blue hedgehog is different than the interaction between children and a fast blue hedgehog, but it works much better than expected and shows that Wonders of the world might have had a chance if it had ever been released in theaters.

Sonic the Hedgehog will be available to stream on Netflix on September 1, 2024.

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