Paramount CEO Characterizes Sonic in Movie as “Delinquent”

The president and CEO of Paramount Pictures said at a Producer Guild sponsored conference today he was convinced to give the go-ahead to the Sonic movie on the basis on a short clip the movie’s producer, Neil Moritz, showed which portrayed the hedgehog as a “juvenile delinquent.”

According to Deadline, Jim Gianopulos made those remarks when explaining his initial hesitation to greenlight Sonic, on the basis that video game adaptations largely do not translate well at the movie theater.

According to the article:

Gianopulos was sold on Sonic‘s story. “He’s a juvenile delinquent on the adventures in a pretty straight rural environment with a local policeman. It was instantly engaging and it was good enough where you could see where it’s going,” he said.

Gianopulos noted in the conference when scouting out new films–which is interesting, since another piece about the conference, written by The Wrap, confirms from the mouth of Moritz the upcoming Sonic movie will feature the very un-original buddy cop format:

Moritz continued, “What we’re trying to do with Sonic is make a movie about a small-town police officer and Sonic at a time when they are both desperately in need of a friend, and we hope that this theme is friendship is what gives the film its heart and makes it prosper.”

Paramount is in part banking on the release of Sonic next year to help it rebound in box office revenue. It has languished after losing Marvel Studios to Disney.