Back in April, Paramount Pictures released the very first trailer for the live-action
Sonic the Hedgehog movie starring Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, and James Marsden — the former two of which will be playing Dr. Robotnik and the titular, blue speedster respectively.
Suffice it to say, fans weren't pleased with how Sonic looked. After much backlash, the film's director announced that they would delay the film so that they could redo the titular character's design. Months have passed since then and Paramount Pictures recently released a brand new trailer for the
Sonic the Hedgehog movie which features an all-new character design for Sonic.
This time, the
Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer went down far better with fans. However, it wasn't all sunshine and roses as many feared that animators had been overworked in order to get the redesign done. Thankfully, though, one of them recently spoke out about the conditions behind-the-scenes and revealed that they were given ample time to get the job done.
Sonic Team Argentina spoke with Max Schneider and he revealed that Paramount Pictures were the ones who pushed for the initial, realistic design. The studio was apparently aware that fans wouldn't like it but believed that the general public would be indifferent — therefore, the backlash couldn't possibly be extreme enough to warrant a redesign, right?
Schneider went on to reveal that the process was a five-month one and began with the character's face, then they worked their way down to his shoes. The animator claims that there wasn't any more pressure put on the crew than would usually be and they were given a comfortable amount of time to work.
Despite taking a lot of time, the redesign job apparently didn't cost much. This lines up with
previous reports that the process of redesigning Sonic only cost Paramount Pictures $5 million. That's likely why the studio were so willing to redesign the character in the first place.
“To modify everything took many months, since a big part of the movie was already finished," said Schneider.
"And the process was basically to redesign the model, make a new rig and going back to animate everything with the character. Some things were rescued from the old animations, but others had to practically be animated again."
Based on the global blockbuster videogame franchise from Sega, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG tells the story of the world’s speediest hedgehog as he embraces his new home on Earth. In this live-action adventure comedy, Sonic and his new best friend Tom (James Marsden) team up to defend the planet from the evil genius Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and his plans for world domination. The family-friendly film also stars Tika Sumpter and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic.
Sonic the Hedgehog speeds into theatres on February 14th, 2020.