[Scarlett.]

Hollywood insider website The Tracking Board is reporting today that a big-budget Sonic the Hedgehog film is currently in production over at movie studio Columbia Pictures.

According to the site, the movie will be a “dark, edgy version skewed towards older audiences,” and will be a mixture of live-action and CG animation. (I’m picturing a project done in a similar fashion to films such as Garfield or Alvin and the Chipmunks, just obviously with a much different overall tone.) With how the Sonic series has evolved over time, and the introduction of far more human characters to the world, this isn’t as surprising a direction as it may originally seem.

However, it does bring up at least one interesting question instantly: will Doctor. Eggman be real or CG? If they do go the live-action route for him, then I can’t help but think back to a certain fan-created poster that imagined Danny DeVito in the role.

Sonic is no stranger to the world of entertainment, and this isn’t even the first official Sonic movie to be produced—of course, the other was a direct-to-video anime release developed by well-known Japanese animation house Studio Pierrot. This will no doubt be a project far grander in scope, and one that—to be honest—is a little surprising to me. I mean, there’s been talk of plenty of videogame franchises going Hollywood, but a serious take on Sonic is one I never could have predicted. And yet, at the same time, it also makes perfect sense, given how popular a character Sega’s blue hedgehog is both inside and outside of the games community.

Speaking of Sega, The Tracking Board reports that Sonic’s developer is joining up with Original Films to finance the project, with Neal Moritz and Toby Ascher producing. There’s also a supposed shortlist of writers for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, including Wernick & Reese (Monsters Inc., Zombieland), David Rerenbaum (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Elf), Phil Johnston (Wreck-It Ralph), and the pick I’d personally go with, Brad Bird (Incredibles, The Iron Giant).

EGMNow

[Stu]

Please.



Please please please please please.