SEGA On Sonic Movie: “We Believed Strongly The Sonic Brand Needs To Be Treated Right”

25 Comments

1. Not sure this project should be looked at as a way to strengthen a “brand.”

   I need to get around to watching the Reasonable Assessment on the movie. Though honestly it’s hard to do so when I know any discussion I have in the comments for that will be seemingly erased in a month.

2. I am hoiping Alec Baldwin gets the role as Eggman in the Sonic movie.

   Also: How come Sega never considered using the Freedom Fighters for future Sega/Sonic projects in this brief interview? I know the Sonic comic books get relaunched by IDW next month and I still have hopes that Sally Acorn and the Freedom Fighters make it to IDW Sonic before 2018 ends, they are still in since the 2017 NYCC Sonic Town Hall panel “STAY TUNED” notice.

   1. This article has absolutely nothing to do with IDW or the Freedom Fighters.

      1. He will never give up complaining about that, I’m afraid

      2. You know, I can’t help but chuckle when reading their comments, as insensitive as it sounds, because seeing a comment from them I think to myself every now and then “how are they gonna find some convoluted way of mentioning the freedom fighters this time?”
         It’s understandable, really it is, for them to love the freedom fighters so much they practically worship them with every comment they make.
         They probably grew up with them read all their struggles and stories and through it, cherished the characters more than probably even friends.
         But I think I speak for everyone when I say, it’s time to let go.
         The comics belong under idw now and the official characters used in those comics are a property of Sega and as far as I understand the freedom fighters weren’t made by Sega. Because of lawsuits and legal issues stirred because of those comics I highly doubt Sega would want anything to do with bringing those characters back if it meant that they could get into some copyright issues just because someone begged them to bring the characters back.
         But dth if you’re reading this and you’re still insistent on getting the characters back to comics, that’s perfectly fine, but maybe you could show your passion for those characters through other ways. Like drawing them or making a website dedicated to preserving the characters you hold dear, heck why not write some fan fiction while you’re at it too, after all if those characters may not ever see the light of day again officially why not write stories for yourself, who knows what adventures you could come up with them.

         1. Actually, SEGA does own the rights to the Freedom Fighters as well as most other iterations of Sonic. The problem is that the IDW series is a new continuity, thus it needs to establish its own identity before more familiar elements can be introduced.

            1. Couldn’t this petition help the Freedom Fighters get them into IDW Sonic faster?: https://www.change.org/p/save-the-freedom-fighters-by-putting-them-in-the-idw-sonic-comics

   2. Do you ever say anything else ever? You’re like Bit from Tron. Let it go, Christ.

3. I don’t have very high hopes for this but I want it to succeed with all my heart!

   I think they could even make the cgi/live-action thing work, I mean is not impossible, as long as they avoid focusing the movie on some new human characters I think it can succeed where others failed, not to mention I’m excited to see the set pieces and locations for the movie, imagine seeing Sonic blast through the city as he does in Generations (to put an example), but this time the city is real and/or hyperrealistic looking and the action has some crazy camera angles and high speed sequences.

   1. Agreed: Like you and most here, I am not the type of person who wants this to fall flat just for amusement like I have seen in many comments in certain gaming web forums. I also have low expectations given SEGA and Hollywood’s hit-and-miss track records but I still have well wishes for this film, wanting it to be the best it can be despite the odds. Just wanting this to fail “for laughs” shows a disappointingly low level of immaturity and disdain from these Internet trolls/adult-in-parent’s-basement dwellers.

      1. @HIFIHEDGEHOG

         I feel the same way man, I can understand some people bashing the movie in one comment or two, I mean everyone likes to troll to some degree right? But there are some “fans” that all they do is wait for Sonic news to bash and they criticize everyone excited for what’s to come, now that’s really sad to look at, I mean how can someone waste so much time on the web arguing about something they don’t even like anymore?

         1. Exactly. At least here, TSSZNews knows how to add some tasteful humor and critique this subject without getting all pedantic, unsavory and ill-willed about it.

4. Man, while I don’t want to be too skeptical at the franchise, “Sonic brand needs to be treated in the right way” is just empty noise to me. I’ve heard this too many times for, what, 6 or so years? These words don’t mean anything to me when the quality of the main selling point of the brand (as in, games) is very inconsistent.
   And yes, I know this article and an interview is mostly about the movie, but I’m just tired hearing similar words and barely see anything noteworthy coming out of this.

   Anyway, about the movie – I myself have low expectations for this, but I don’t want it to outright fail (unless it’s a REALLY poor movie). If it’s good – great! If not – oh well.

   1. I see what you mean but I feel Sega is slowly taking the right steps towards redemption, just last year we got Sonic Mania and Forces which were way better than the Sonic Lost World and Sonic Boom RoL we got in previous years, not to mention that they seem to be investing in more quality products for Sonic’s toy line, comics and mobile games (except for Sonic Runners Adventure). Also the fact that they didn’t release the movie like only one year after announcing it shows that they at least are taking their time to make it right and not just use it as a shameless cash grab.

      1. That’s a really really low bar and considering the time between LW and Forces compared to LW and Generations it’s pathetic how it turned out the way it did, LW is a unfun mess but at least it feels complete unlike Forces which doesn’t even have idle animations for Modern Sonic.

5. Then I think they should cancel it, 99% of movie adaptations base on video games usually fail in the box office, and to some people sonic is not exactly at stable state that he needs a movie with live action scenes in it, it makes it sounds concerning just by reading it. This sound like something they should of did in the 90’s when Mario had a movie and they just now doing it. Don’t want it to fail but can’t vision it being great base on track record of other video game movies its always a miss more then hit

   1. To be fair Sonic is not like other videogame franchises; Sonic has the longest comic run for a property based on a videogame and also the biggest number of animated shows based on it, now I’m not saying the movie will be good because of this but its fair to say that Sonic does better in other mediums than most videogame franchises.

      1. True. But sonic is not an exception to the rules applied in other forms of mediums, looking at the comics and having knowledge of certain trends at those times can prove that just because its a property base of a video game doesn’t mean it won’t be victim to certain trends that don’t always pan out well

6. “Yes, we believed strongly that the Sonic brand needed to be treated in the right way.”
   Yes but Sonic Forces LOL

   “Obviously Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces definitely helped. Fortunately, the success of Sonic Mania really helped bring back a lot of our core fans. Many new, exciting new licensed products were developed based on this game across apparel and other areas. Additionally, the launch of Sonic Forces on console and Speed Battle on mobile helped us reach a much wider audience of new and existing fans. We can’t wait to share more about what’s coming up in the near future.”
   Ha they still won’t admit that Mania is more mainstream and instead contntue the niche narrative guys like him and Iizuka tired in the past, this is crazy town logic not to admit this they only get away with it because they won’t release sales numbers. Imamgine if Nintendo tired saying this about NSMB, they might have wanted to but couldn’t because we had firm numbers that said a single NSMB game (NSMBWii) outsold all the combined numbers of all 3D Marios up to Galaxy 2. Mania’s success has much more to do with core fans unless they assume that the mainstream market are core fans, broken lazy Sonic Team games are Red Ocean Sonic Mania is Blue Ocean.

   “we have been working overtime to restore fans’ trust in our product”
   Yes but Sonic Forces and ruining the remasters on mobile with your glitchy SEGA Forever trash LMAO.

   1. IMO, they’re in complete denial over how poorly Sonic Forces was received in the west. Sonic Team’s gonna Sonic Team no matter what and the PR guys have to tow the line by pretending it did just as much as Mania to “expand the audience”.

   2. Too bad the NSMB series went into rehash mode come NSMB2 and NSMBU.

7. I suggested Alec Baldwin to play Eggman in the 2019 Sonic movie.

   Who know who I would suggest to do the voice of Sonic in the 2019 Sonic movie? Atticus Schafer, who played Brick Heck since 2009 on the TV sitcom The Middle (currently in its final season).

8. I hope this movie is going to be decent.

9. I have a feeling Iizuka just wants to have the Sonic Adventure reboot experience from 1999 again, and this the live-action & CGI hybrid.. Probably got territorial because of Mania’s massive success.

   I calculate this movie will probably be along the lines of The Smurfs at worst, Michael Bay’s TMNT at best.

10. I’m not sure if modern SEGA is the best judge of character when it comes to how the Sonic brand should be treated “in the right way”. Considering the last few directions and decisions in the previous 6 years, I’m kind of concerned what they’re convinced is “the way” this year as opposed to last year and the year before that and so on.

Comments are closed.