Sega explains its hands-off role in upcoming Sonic movie

Sega has said it’s taking a fairly hands-off role in the development of Paramount’s upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog live-action movie.

While other publishers including Sony are handling movie adaptations internally, Sega Europe COO and president Gary Dale told GamesIndustry.biz he believes filmmaking is best left to the experts.

“I think there’s a view here that we’re very good at making video games and Paramount is very good at making pictures… This is a film,” he said.

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“I think the idea that you try to control Paramount would be the wrong approach… Over the years, I look at the success of game franchises in film and it’s very mixed. The idea that games makers can control the process and create great movies… I don’t know if that’s true or not.”

Sonic’s character design for the film was revealed in April and caused a fan backlash large enough to see the movie delayed from November 2019 to February 2020 so that Sega’s mascot could be reworked.

Asked about the decision, Dale said: “I think everybody’s just keen to do the right thing. Obviously we have a very deep knowledge of the character and the brand. [Paramount] has a very deep knowledge of how to make movies. The trick is just to bring those two skillsets together to make the best film we can.

“To be fair, Paramount has been open to listening to feedback from the community around Sonic, which of course has got such a tremendously loyal fanbase with people with very specific views of who Sonic is, how Sonic should behave, how Sonic should look. And I think Paramount has taken a lot of that on board.”

The adventure comedy stars Jim Carrey as antagonist Dr. Robotnik and James Marsden as Sonic’s sidekick. Ben Schwartz is the voice actor for Sonic.

Asked recently about Sonic’s redesign, Carrey said he was unsure how he felt about “the audience being in on the creation while it’s happening”.