Sonic the Hedgehog Will Never Be the Same, After Official Movie Poster

Umm, Sonic, is that really you?

Earlier this year, Paramount Pictures announced an all-new, live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie that’s slated for 2019. As the months went by, The Fast and the Furious director Tim Miller confirmed that he will be teaming up with Jeff Fowler, so they can bring this ongoing project into fruition. Mostly everything – from storyline andwriters to the cast and graphics – has been revealed so far, except for one thing: How will the speedy blue blur appear on the big screens?

Courtesy of IGN, an exclusive video has been posted on their Instagram page for the upcoming movie. At the end of the brief footage, Sonic’s first look was teased, when he came to a complete stop, with electricity coursing throughout his body in a terrifying manner.

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The Sonic the Hedgehog, that we all know and love, looks nothing like the one we recognize from the SEGA Dreamcast era and onward. Gone, are his peach-colored arms, along with his white gloves that he wore throughout countless adventures. The production team even went through great length to replace his unique, cone-shaped shoes, with a knock-off pair of Sperry’s Asics sneakers. Worst of all: Sonic now has a furry “No-Shave November” look, completed with his new endomorphic body. Aside from the infamous “werehog” form, from Sonic Unleashed, when has the iconic mascot ever been this hairy? Most importantly, wasn’t Sonic known for having a slender, athletic built, so he can remain as agile as possible? If anything, this new art direction defies everything that made Sonic – well, you know – Sonic!

A day later after IGN made that Instagram post, the video garnered a total of 283,395 views, followed by a grand total of 3,280 comments (at the time that this article was written). After browsing through a third of the remarks, it appears that the consensus wasn’t fond of the hedgehog’s new look.

“Too fast…too furious… too blue…,” said @heros_of_fiction, as the user playfully poked fun at Miller’s involvement with the upcoming movie. More comments, along the lines of heros_of_fiction’s joke, if not harsher, have flooded the comment section. However, @johnathonnoakes made a valid point among them all, by saying, “Don’t judge a movie by its poster.” He continued, “Wait till it comes out then judge!”

IGN reached out to Miller on the reasons why he decided to give Sonic fur. He said, “That was always Stage 1 of adapting it to what the real world is and what a real animal would be like.” Miller continued, “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.”

Even one of the producers Neal Moritz chimed in on some of the design changes, stating that, “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.”

So far, Sonic’s face remains a mystery to the public, but according to Miller, SEGA isn’t too pleased with the filmmaker’s decision. “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 [as in Sonic] 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.”

In a little less than a year, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is scheduled to arrive in theaters on Nov. 8, 2019. As the project continues to go through post-production, the content that was shown is subjected to change over time. For the time being, be sure to keep an eye out for any updates on this trending topic.

How do you personally feel about the overall art direction of Sonic the Hedgehog movie? Do you think they were overboard with his changes? Please leave a comment down below.

[Source: IGN] [Via: Siliconera]