Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
#1
Moderator
Thread Starter
Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
“Westworld’s” James Marsden will star in Paramount’s live-action/animation hybrid movie “Sonic the Hedgehog,” an adaptation of the classic video game, sources tell Variety.
The studio landed the film rights to the classic game in 2017 and tapped Jeff Fowler to direct.
Neal H. Moritz, who recently signed a first-look deal with Paramount, is producing under his Original Film banner. “Deadpool” director Tim Miller will serve as executive producer, along with Toby Ascher. Dmitri Johnson and Dan Jevons will co-produce.
Sega launched the Sonic game in 1991 and has sold more than 360 million copies to date, including both packaged and digital games on consoles, tablets, and mobile.
The game features a hedgehog named Sonic on a quest to defeat Doctor Robotnik, a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and stolen magical Chaos Emeralds.
The movie is set to bow on Nov. 15, 2019. The film marks the first time that Sonic has ever been adapted for the big screen.
Marsden can currently be seen as Teddy on HBO’s “Westworld,” which is in its second season and continues to be one of the network’s most popular shows. Marsden is also active on the film front, having most recently appeared in Rob Reiner’s “Shock and Awe.”
He is repped by CAA, and Authentic Talent and Literary Management.
The studio landed the film rights to the classic game in 2017 and tapped Jeff Fowler to direct.
Neal H. Moritz, who recently signed a first-look deal with Paramount, is producing under his Original Film banner. “Deadpool” director Tim Miller will serve as executive producer, along with Toby Ascher. Dmitri Johnson and Dan Jevons will co-produce.
Sega launched the Sonic game in 1991 and has sold more than 360 million copies to date, including both packaged and digital games on consoles, tablets, and mobile.
The game features a hedgehog named Sonic on a quest to defeat Doctor Robotnik, a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and stolen magical Chaos Emeralds.
The movie is set to bow on Nov. 15, 2019. The film marks the first time that Sonic has ever been adapted for the big screen.
Marsden can currently be seen as Teddy on HBO’s “Westworld,” which is in its second season and continues to be one of the network’s most popular shows. Marsden is also active on the film front, having most recently appeared in Rob Reiner’s “Shock and Awe.”
He is repped by CAA, and Authentic Talent and Literary Management.
#2
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
I like Sonic but a movie? Why? What's to tell? A blue rodent that chases rings? Shit.
Why not Mega Man? Mega Man had more potential.
Why not Mega Man? Mega Man had more potential.
#3
Moderator
Thread Starter
#4
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
Now that's what I'm talking about
Even though Fox is 50/50 when it comes to making faithful adaptions of characters that I love.
Even though Fox is 50/50 when it comes to making faithful adaptions of characters that I love.
#6
DVD Talk Legend
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
Jim Carrey To Play ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ Villain Robotnik
https://deadline.com/2018/06/jim-car...ik-1202419887/
https://deadline.com/2018/06/jim-car...ik-1202419887/
#8
DVD Talk Reviewer & TOAT Winner
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
Still waiting for "Pong: The Motion Picture".
#9
Moderator
Thread Starter
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
Ben Schwartz has been tapped to voice the title character in Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie, sources tell Variety.
James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, and Jim Carrey will also star in the live-action hybrid.
Jeff Fowler, who received an Oscar nomination for his 2005 animated short “Gopher Broke,” is helming the movie, which will blend live-action and CG elements. Neal H. Moritz is producing with “Deadpool” director Tim Miller executive producing, along with Toby Ascher.
Paramount has given “Sonic the Hedgehog” a holiday-season release of Nov. 15, 2019. The project, based on the Sega video game franchise, had been in the works at Sony, but the studio let its film rights lapse and Paramount picked up the project in October. Sega launched the Sonic game in 1991 and has sold more than 360 million copies to date, including both packaged and digital games on consoles, tablets, and mobile.
The game features a hedgehog named Sonic on a quest to defeat Doctor Robotnik, a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and stolen magical Chaos Emeralds.
Schwartz is no stranger to voicing classic characters. He’s currently Dewey Duck on Disney Channel’s reboot of “Duck Tales” and will voice Leonardo in Nickelodeon’s “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” On the film side, Schwartz was most recently seen in “Blue Iguana,” and will appear next in the Kevin Hart-Tiffany Haddish comedy “Night School” and also has a new James Corden produced Showtime series where he will star opposite Jillian Bell.
He is repped by Haven Entertainment, WME, and Gang Tyre.
James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, and Jim Carrey will also star in the live-action hybrid.
Jeff Fowler, who received an Oscar nomination for his 2005 animated short “Gopher Broke,” is helming the movie, which will blend live-action and CG elements. Neal H. Moritz is producing with “Deadpool” director Tim Miller executive producing, along with Toby Ascher.
Paramount has given “Sonic the Hedgehog” a holiday-season release of Nov. 15, 2019. The project, based on the Sega video game franchise, had been in the works at Sony, but the studio let its film rights lapse and Paramount picked up the project in October. Sega launched the Sonic game in 1991 and has sold more than 360 million copies to date, including both packaged and digital games on consoles, tablets, and mobile.
The game features a hedgehog named Sonic on a quest to defeat Doctor Robotnik, a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and stolen magical Chaos Emeralds.
Schwartz is no stranger to voicing classic characters. He’s currently Dewey Duck on Disney Channel’s reboot of “Duck Tales” and will voice Leonardo in Nickelodeon’s “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” On the film side, Schwartz was most recently seen in “Blue Iguana,” and will appear next in the Kevin Hart-Tiffany Haddish comedy “Night School” and also has a new James Corden produced Showtime series where he will star opposite Jillian Bell.
He is repped by Haven Entertainment, WME, and Gang Tyre.
#10
Moderator
Thread Starter
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
<svg width="50px" height="50px" viewBox="0 0 60 60" version="1.1" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg>View this post on InstagramGet your first look at Sonic The Hedgehog in his new live action movie.
<script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
The poster shows a couple of key updates to Sonic, and we had the opportunity to speak with the creative team behind the movie to find out new details about the upcoming movie. This telling of Sonic's story sees him as a bit of a fish -- or hedgehog -- out of water. Sonic, voiced by Ben Schwartz, finds himself in our present-day world, wherein he develops a relationship with James Marsden's Tom Wachowski and also finds himself at odds with Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik. As expected, mayhem ensues.
The production team behind the movie opted to go for a more realistic take on Sonic -- down to his updated new kicks -- than the more cartoony version we've seen in the past. The filmmakers consider Ted to be an appropriate analog for the upcoming Sonic movie’s integration of a CG character into a real-world setting.
The first thing you’ll likely notice about the character is that he has fur -- a bit of a no-brainer, considering what he is, but still a markedly different visual depiction of Sonic than what we’re used to. “That was always Stage 1 of adapting it to what the real world is and what a real animal would be like,” executive producer Tim Miller (director of Deadpool) said of giving Sonic fur. “It would be weird and it would feel like he was running around nude if he was some sort of otter-like thing. It was always, for us, fur, and we never considered anything different. It’s part of what integrates him into the real world and makes him a real creature.”
Then there are the shoes. "We looked at every different variation of what shoes he's worn and we're trying to pay homage to that and also make it current and present day in what we think a Sonic of today would wear," producer Neal Moritz (producer of the Fast and the Furious franchise) told IGN.
The most challenging part of Sonic’s updated design isn’t revealed in this teaser: his eyes. The filmmakers struggled with how best to depict Sonic’s eyes because often he’s only seen with one, and that wouldn’t translate well to the live-action movie.
“I don’t think SEGA was entirely happy with the eye decision, but these sorts of things you go, ‘It’s going to look weird if we don’t do this.’ But everything is a discussion, and that’s kind of the goal, which is to only change what’s necessary and stay true to the rest of it,” said Miller. “He’s not going to feel like a Pixar character would because I don’t think that’s the right aesthetic to make it feel like part of our world.”
There's also the question of how Sonic The Hedgehog will represent the title character's speed -- one of his signature elements -- within the movie. Post-production began about a month ago, so the special effects are still being finalized, but director Jeff Fowler -- the movie’s resident Sonic superfan and internal defender of staying true to the character -- knew from the start exactly how he wanted to visually represent Sonic's super-fast abilities. In fact, that was part of the original pitch to studios. Fowler, Moritz and Miller all worked on a test video for what they envisioned Sonic would be to show to their studio partners, and it revealed their early concepts for how the speed would work. (Coincidentally, they had asked Schwartz to sub in as the voice of Sonic in that test video, and he did such a great job that they ended up casting him for the role.)
“The first thing you need to do is put limits on it. If you can do anything, nothing is special. For me, it’s always about keeping it grounded and keeping it realistic,” said Miller. “We had some time to figure out the speed: What it looks like, what it feels like for a character to do that and how it relates to our world. It took a little trial and error, but that’s animation in figuring out what the effect looks like and what it does to the rest of the world around it. The speed changes over time because he evolves, because he can’t do everything at the beginning of the movie. It’s finding the visual language and figuring out how it’s going to evolve over time.”
The production team behind the movie opted to go for a more realistic take on Sonic -- down to his updated new kicks -- than the more cartoony version we've seen in the past. The filmmakers consider Ted to be an appropriate analog for the upcoming Sonic movie’s integration of a CG character into a real-world setting.
The first thing you’ll likely notice about the character is that he has fur -- a bit of a no-brainer, considering what he is, but still a markedly different visual depiction of Sonic than what we’re used to. “That was always Stage 1 of adapting it to what the real world is and what a real animal would be like,” executive producer Tim Miller (director of Deadpool) said of giving Sonic fur. “It would be weird and it would feel like he was running around nude if he was some sort of otter-like thing. It was always, for us, fur, and we never considered anything different. It’s part of what integrates him into the real world and makes him a real creature.”
Then there are the shoes. "We looked at every different variation of what shoes he's worn and we're trying to pay homage to that and also make it current and present day in what we think a Sonic of today would wear," producer Neal Moritz (producer of the Fast and the Furious franchise) told IGN.
The most challenging part of Sonic’s updated design isn’t revealed in this teaser: his eyes. The filmmakers struggled with how best to depict Sonic’s eyes because often he’s only seen with one, and that wouldn’t translate well to the live-action movie.
“I don’t think SEGA was entirely happy with the eye decision, but these sorts of things you go, ‘It’s going to look weird if we don’t do this.’ But everything is a discussion, and that’s kind of the goal, which is to only change what’s necessary and stay true to the rest of it,” said Miller. “He’s not going to feel like a Pixar character would because I don’t think that’s the right aesthetic to make it feel like part of our world.”
There's also the question of how Sonic The Hedgehog will represent the title character's speed -- one of his signature elements -- within the movie. Post-production began about a month ago, so the special effects are still being finalized, but director Jeff Fowler -- the movie’s resident Sonic superfan and internal defender of staying true to the character -- knew from the start exactly how he wanted to visually represent Sonic's super-fast abilities. In fact, that was part of the original pitch to studios. Fowler, Moritz and Miller all worked on a test video for what they envisioned Sonic would be to show to their studio partners, and it revealed their early concepts for how the speed would work. (Coincidentally, they had asked Schwartz to sub in as the voice of Sonic in that test video, and he did such a great job that they ended up casting him for the role.)
“The first thing you need to do is put limits on it. If you can do anything, nothing is special. For me, it’s always about keeping it grounded and keeping it realistic,” said Miller. “We had some time to figure out the speed: What it looks like, what it feels like for a character to do that and how it relates to our world. It took a little trial and error, but that’s animation in figuring out what the effect looks like and what it does to the rest of the world around it. The speed changes over time because he evolves, because he can’t do everything at the beginning of the movie. It’s finding the visual language and figuring out how it’s going to evolve over time.”
#11
DVD Talk Hero
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: In the straps of boots
Posts: 27,980
Received 1,178 Likes
on
833 Posts
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
Here's an excellent video!
(Don't take it TOO seriously. Also NSFW for language)
And a reminder that Sonic Boom is the best show on TV.
Last edited by Dan; 12-10-18 at 08:42 AM.
#16
DVD Talk Limited Edition
#17
DVD Talk Hero
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
I’m getting an uncomfortable Furry vibe off of that poster.
#18
#19
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
Yeah, the silhouette is making Sonic look weird.
I was a fan of the Sonic games but I can't say I was hoping for a live-action movie. I guess the time is right for 90s nostalgia to begin.
If it's at least as good as Super Mario Bros I'll see it in the theater.
I was a fan of the Sonic games but I can't say I was hoping for a live-action movie. I guess the time is right for 90s nostalgia to begin.
If it's at least as good as Super Mario Bros I'll see it in the theater.
#20
DVD Talk Legend
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
That looks awful. Detective Pikachu had the right idea. I wonder if they can go back and retool this to match that concept.
#21
DVD Talk Hero
#22
Moderator
Thread Starter
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
#24
DVD Talk Legend
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
I’ll wait for a trailer as it could be a surprise like Detective Pikachu, but my initial thoughts are that this should be traditional animation or full CG. I have a feeling this will be something bad along the lines of the live action/CG creature mix Chipmunks or Garfield movies.
#25
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
re: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020, D: Fowler) S: Carrey, Marsden, Schwartz
F this. Where’s the Legend of Zelda movie I’ve been waiting for for 30+ years?