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Sonic the Hedgehog carried the Presidents Day weekend box office—a huge feat for a film that seemed to have all the trappings of a bona fide box office bomb.
ViacomCBS
‘ Paramount Pictures faced a massive wave of online mocking when an early trailer for the film dropped in April 2019. The backlash—focused on the studio’s human-like portrayal of the beloved blue hedgehog—was so widespread, it prompted Paramount to delay the film so it could completely redesign its title character.
While the original design direction was ill-conceived, the studio’s decision to kowtow to online criticism worked like a charm. Sonic had a record showing last weekend, beating 2019’s Detective Pikachu for the highest-grossing opening weekend for a videogame-based movie. It’s already topped $100 million worldwide, according to The Wall Street Journal.
That’s great news for Paramount, which has undergone a turnaround under
ViacomCBS
CEO
Bob Bakish.
Reviews for the film are good enough. Of the 160 reviews listed on the website Rotten Tomatoes, 64% are positive. Universal Pictures’ CATS, another film widely mocked for its furry character design, could only win over 20% of its 293 critics. For Sonic, the site’s tally of regular viewers fared far better, with 94% positive score for the more than 10,600 ratings listed.
Such reviews may have surprised folks at home that were anticipating a train-wreck of a film. In that way, the circus surrounding its release may have boosted its profile.
Beyond a glowing contrast to Universal’s CATS, the Sonic film also demonstrates the untapped value in videogame intellectual property for film and television. As Barron’swrote in January, following the mega-success of Netflix’s adaption of The Witcher fantasy series, videogame properties could be a lucrative opportunity for streaming services and filmmakers to explore beloved game characters in a new light.
Such gaming audiences are already engaged in these worlds, and many fans are looking for a thoughtful representation with solid writing and direction. That may be easier said than done for many videogame adaptions. Out of 43 videogame movies ranked by Rotten Tomatoes scores, only three—Sonic, Detective Pikachu and The Angry Birds Movie 2—have more positive reviews than negative. Many were loosely based on their source material and plagued by terrible writing and acting.
ViacomCBS stock was up about 0.8%, to $35.39, shortly after noon on Wednesday—one day before the company’s fourth-quarter earnings release. The stock was among Barron’stop picks for 2020, given the company’s large content library and its discount to some entertainment peers.
Write to Connor Smith at connor.smith@barrons.com
