Movies Paramount Producer Wants Sonic Movies to Become "Avengers-Level" Events

[Zadent]

18 hours ago, Dreadknux said:

We got really excited about the idea of expanding our characters in our world into television, specifically, because it gives us a platform to really do character studies.

We knew that, with Shadow coming into Sonic 3 and some of the bigger things that we want to do, the Sonic franchise on the movie side is going to be these Avengers-level events. They’re going to be these big, exciting stories that have a lot of different characters. And so what television did for us is it gave us time to go into some of the more supporting characters in depth and really build them out in cool ways.

Maybe it’s just my reading of this, but while I get concerns about going too crazy with the idea of trying to be the next MCU..I don’t know if I got that quite from this bit. It sounds like a comparison point in terms of the scope of what the movies will do (bigger threats, probably akin to the finale of, well, mainly the Adventure-Dark Era titles) vs potentially more shows (depending on how Knuckles does, but much more focused on smaller stories for the characters)? Idk how long they can make those events last, but i wouldn’t complain about more stuff focused on other characters 

I could be wrong and missing another quote or misreading, but that’s kinda how I took the statement.

[GentlemanX]

Paramount haven't been doing hot lately, especially Paramount+ which is one of the weaker performing streaming outlets in an era when nearly all streaming outlets are realizing the difficulty in profiting through a subscription model. Given that, it makes perfect sense that they would want to double down and expand what by all accounts is an up and coming winning franchise for them.

Sonic 1 was a pretty by the numbers franchise tie in movie, and the initial trailer was roasted - they had a dud on their hands. Then they got someone associated with the other media in the franchise on board, and suddenly reception changed basically over night. The sequel brought in a ton more game elements, and it sold around $80 million more than the first film. With the Knuckles series and Shadow's presence in the third film attracting a significant amount of interest in the movie franchise, it makes sense to see that as a pattern that expanding that will continue to generate further successful movies.

Do I think that Sonic's going to get as successful as the MCU? No, but I also know it doesn't have to be a billion dollar per movie franchise in order to justify keeping it around. Paramount is looking for another tentpole revenue earner and at the moment there's nothing suggesting to them that Sonic isn't that. If Sonic 3 is successful, they're going to make Sonic 4.

And personally, I don't think that's a bad thing. I'm not really going into these movies looking for some character journey that has a standard three act structure. I want a movie where the Sonic characters do cool things. Having just seen Godzilla x Kong, I kinda see it the same as that. I'm looking for a good popcorn movie and implementing more of the stuff I love from the franchise sounds good to me. If audiences respond to that and we get more of them - cool! If audiences don't and we eventually stop - that's fine. Maybe that just shows I'm not super invested in the movies, but I have liked them well enough and am looking forward to the third one.

[castell-neath]

8 hours ago, Slashy said:

I do not understand this logic when every other aspect of Sonic is treated this way and most fans frankly want it this way.

They treated it that way back with the games too...the quality declined and we had this:

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2015/07/sega_we_want_to_win_back_gamers_trust

I've seen Star Wars, Marvel, and a few others flogged to death recently and they have way more depth and story to use. Mando season 3 looked tired, Ahsoka was "meh" and Marvel TV Shows have gone off a cliff in terms of viewership.

Working to a ticking clock never brings decent Films / TV and lack of a clear plan also leads to a Star Wars Sequel Trillogy situation with each director adding / undoing elements of the other that just create a crap, uneven experience with out of the blue developments and crap explaiations like "Somehow...he returned".

Plus...Sonic has 1 main baddie....a varient of said baddie..Mephiles and Black Doom (Infinite and Zeti dont count!). How far can you really push the story? 

The only spin off that would really work is A Blaze / Silver alternate dimension story with Mephiles / Eggman Nega and that setting up a crossover for a big finale in a final film. 

 

Edited April 9 by castell-neath

[Rabbitearsblog]

5 hours ago, SadVlad said:

I think it's best that they don't count their chickens before they hatch. There is only so far these movies can go before they run stale. They might be better off stopping at 3. Trying to compete with The Avengers won't end well. Marvel tried to follow up from the Avenger's success and failed miserably, and it's their own franchise. 

The problem with the Avengers was that the Avengers had a movie where they could have ended the franchise right there and then, which was Avengers: Endgame, which would have been the perfect movie to end the franchise on a high note.  But no, Marvel wanted to keep going, even though the Avengers' story line had pretty much wrapped up by that point and they ended up lacking a direction for the franchise moving forward.  Hopefully, the same thing won't happen to the Sonic movies.  Like, I hope that if Paramount wants to keep this franchise going for the foreseeable future, then they should end the franchise on a high note and not run it to the ground like the MCU is doing right now.

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

Good LORD

After reading comments i hadnt seen, they are ALL right! its going to get just as bland as forces, and its just something you cant keep doing 24/7. its a GAME, not a MOVIE, let the gamers game, not watch mindlessly. if your going to milk a cow, let the cow BREATH for christ sake.

[MetalSkulkBane]

18 hours ago, Polkadi~☆ said:

I know people are constantly suggesting things like "what about a Silver spin-off?" without realising that Sonic is the tentpole that the series stands on, and is what people are most likely to care about.

It would be possible if Sonic was huuuuuge.

I mean, who gave a damn about Guardians of the Galaxy before the movies? Very few people, but MCU was so big they were willing to check it.

Besides, in theory, it's not much different than starting a new IP. How Silver is than much riskier move than (quick google of upcoming kid movies) Thelma the Unicorn?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Nevermind the fact that Knuckles just got his own television spin-off. Not seeing how a Silver spin-off wouldn’t do well if they market it enough for people to gain interest.

As for the movies, the only downside is that you’d need the live actors playing their parts, and as said before Jim Carrey being the lead antagonist and not continuing the role puts a blunder on the idea—this is why animating it like the Mario Movie or Sonic Prime would’ve been a better idea instead of Live Action. So how they plan to continue the movie series is a big question, because I feel it’ll be a tough sell without Carrey.

[LongcrierCat]

Oh boy, I can't wait for the Sonic Cinematic Multiverse Phase!

Jokes aside, the only way they can make this a cinematic universe is if Sega gets used to a lot of things it hasn't in a long time in a very quick manner and be accepting of the idea of changing their rules.

Like for instance, how it will handle solo character spinoffs like it's doing with Knuckles. How would they handle that with Tails for instance. Would it be one offs with Tails Adventure and Tails Sky Patrol? Or would they not allow this due to Movie Tails being designwise close to Modern Tails and the Battle Kukus being pretty exclusively Classic Characters? It's rules like these and not allowing the Chaotix to be Classic Characters that Sega of Japan has to get over very quickly if they're serious about actually making this series into the kind of mega franchise that rakes in billions of dollars like that that they clearly want to have happen.

Sega has to learn to stop being stubborn someday and they haven't stopped being stubborn since the 90s even when Tom Kalinske worked with Ken Kutaragi to try to seal the Sega Playstation deal. Sega of Japan has to learn their sense of pride is hurting them someday.

But also jokes about the MCU aside, a Sonic Multiverse Movie could be fun.

... I'll only be accepting it in terms of Spider-Verse level treatment, being fully animated, and having love and attention put into it that will appeal to as many of the fans old and new as it can tho.

[Lorekitten]

18 minutes ago, LongcrierCat said:

... I'll only be accepting it in terms of Spider-Verse level treatment, being fully animated, and having love and attention put into it that will appeal to as many of the fans old and new as it can tho.

You mean Spider-Verse in terms of quality, or in terms of many different universes coming together in a single storyline? Because both sound good to me.

[Maple Syrup]

1 hour ago, LongcrierCat said:

Oh boy, I can't wait for the Sonic Cinematic Multiverse Phase!

Jokes aside, the only way they can make this a cinematic universe is if Sega gets used to a lot of things it hasn't in a long time in a very quick manner and be accepting of the idea of changing their rules.

Like for instance, how it will handle solo character spinoffs like it's doing with Knuckles. How would they handle that with Tails for instance. Would it be one offs with Tails Adventure and Tails Sky Patrol? Or would they not allow this due to Movie Tails being designwise close to Modern Tails and the Battle Kukus being pretty exclusively Classic Characters? It's rules like these and not allowing the Chaotix to be Classic Characters that Sega of Japan has to get over very quickly if they're serious about actually making this series into the kind of mega franchise that rakes in billions of dollars like that that they clearly want to have happen.

Sega has to learn to stop being stubborn someday and they haven't stopped being stubborn since the 90s even when Tom Kalinske worked with Ken Kutaragi to try to seal the Sega Playstation deal. Sega of Japan has to learn their sense of pride is hurting them someday.

But also jokes about the MCU aside, a Sonic Multiverse Movie could be fun.

... I'll only be accepting it in terms of Spider-Verse level treatment, being fully animated, and having love and attention put into it that will appeal to as many of the fans old and new as it can tho.

It would be pretty cool to see our little blue hedgehog become a Hollywood star! Yet I also think that SEGA are pushing themselves too much. Quoting Sonic, " Take a Mai Tai, enjoy some time with your wife! This is about you!"

Edited April 11 by Maple Syrup

[Lorekitten]

If this series gets far enough that they start incorporating spin-off characters from IDW and/or Sonic Prime...

I'm honestly not sure if that'd be a good thing or a bad thing.

Prolly depends on how good the writing is. And how much brand fatigue we've all got by that point.

[Red Hot Jack]

On 4/9/2024 at 2:51 PM, A super No.1 washedupgamer said:

Like others have said, it's a little bit too ambitious right now to try to compete with the avengers. I say end the series on a high note and leave it at that.

I think it's PR discourse and talk to hype up the franchise. They will never get to Marvel success at the time of Endgame or close, all they said is the plots will have bigger threats and stakes. The Knuckles show is goofy so I feel like they are talking about Sonic 3 of course.