Sonic Movie Writer: People Worried About Movie Quality Will Be “Pleasantly Surprised”

63 Comments

1. Well there yah have it. I’ve had my doubts, but I had a pretty good idea that the movie would be at least better than those.

2. Picture is too small to view on my phone

3. So will there be a live action Maria or Elise to really shake things up? 😛

   Seriously though, I will believe it when I see it. Sony Pictures has said the very same things about all the other movies following their utter disappointments. And you know what? They were also utter disappointments.

   1. Careful, Van Robichaux may read your comment, and TSSZ may post an arcticle about his tweet saying that this is not like those movies either.

4. I want to believe, but executive meddling is still a possibility.

5. I’d be even more pleasantly surprised if they said “Ha Ha just kidding the movie is coming out late this year or early next year”!
   2018?! 2018?! I’ll be 23 in 2018 and I haven’t even reached the age of 21 yet this year!
   I’m so excited I could run as fast as Sonic, but alas I am but a slow sloth!

   1. Dont make me feel old. I’ll be 32 by the time the Sonic movie rolls around.

   2. I’ll be 19 or twenty depending on whether the movie comes out before or after July in 2018. Oh my. Twenty? That’s unbelievable.

   3. Dude I could have kids by then… @~@

      1. 😮 !

6. My only thoughts on this… Please if you love this character. Help him… Put effort forth… Care and pour your soul into this.. Don’t put this movie out there just cause.. Keep global agendas out of it! Cause we don’t want this movie being called Sonic Frozen 😎

   1. Frozen might be very well be overrated, but there is no denying it is a very well-written, nicely designed animated feature film. I do not quite understand why so many Sonic fans have their torches and pitchforks always out against Frozen. Yet, I interestingly notice a larger than usual general sense of animosity towards it from fellow Sonic fans. That said, in my opinion, Big Hero 6 was by far a much better movie. It dealt with real-life struggles like teenage depression and the loss of a sibling, used real-life scientific facts as the basis of nearly every gadget and gizmo, had two strong female lead characters with interesting personalities, and had epic battles and gorgeous scenery.

      1. I don’t care for Big Hero 6 just for that reason.

         They also shit on revenge. Your brother joins your birth parents in heaven and you’re not allowed to avenge him. Weak.

         I am praying on Zootopia to give me a better film experience, or else it’s strictly Dreamworks, Illumination, and everything else. Disney has not been fun like it was during the 90’s and older.

         1. Uh, because revenge is a low and meaningless impulse that ultimately leads to even more pain and never fills the emptiness inside you? Seriously, revenge isn’t that great, the only thing to make it seem like a just and noble cause are meat-fueled action movies from the 80’s and 90’s…and the Expendables. Those movies are fun, but I wouldn’t exactly mark them as guides on how to go through life. Of all the reasons I’ve heard why some people don’t care for Big Hero 6, this one is undoubtedly the oddest one I’ve ever come across.

         2. You seriously need psychological help if you really think inflicting revenge is a healthy way to solve problems. It sounds like you have watched so many movies with your free time that you are actually starting to believe the unethical behavior in them is right and reality. Senseless killing does no one any good because it does absolutely nothing to undo the past and all it buys you is a lifetime of bitterness and hate.

         3. This isn’t a discussion on my moral beliefs, so drop it. I’m entitled to think whatever the hell I want about Big Hero 6 (ex. Tadashi isn’t really dead), without any prudes stepping in.

            The real concern is whether or not this Sonic movie will be any good unlike the previous Garfield/Chipmunks/Smurfs BS laced with cashcow Hollywood reimaginings, like the Bayformers and Pixels.

         4. “Prudes?” Yeesh, somebody’s got a bee in their undies. Look hotshot, setting “moral beliefs” aside for a second, what were you honestly expecting from DISNEY’S Big Hero 6? Revenge happens in those movies, but how often do you ever see it being represented as being in the right by the protagonist from start to finish anyway?

            And um, yeah as far as the movie is concerned, I’m preeeeety sure that Tadashi IS in fact dead. Kinds throws off the whole weight of the story if he wasn’t. I don’t read the comics so I wouldn’t know how that story goes, but from what I understand the movie took several liberties with the story and characters, and since it worked out so well, I see no reason for me to compare them on that regard.

      2. Couldn’t agree more! In fact from all the recent animated movies I would seriously hope the Sonic movie is more similar to Big Hero 6, perhaps to How to train your dragon as well, these movies really show that you can have intense action, drama, well developed characters and funny moments in good balance and quality (looking at you Sonic Colors age).

         1. I’d rather call it the “Happy Hedgehog Friends Age”, considering the reason why anyone is even considering humor a problem in the franchise now. Seriously, remember when people were complaining about how the games were “too serious” or “too edgy”? It’s like Sega can only think in terms of extremes or something. Well, hopefully all this talk about quality and changes will actually result in some more well-thought out balancing of the formula, game and story-wise.

         2. @ Hero
            Idk, I think “Boom” or “Colors” Age feels better to explain it.
            If it really WAS a “Happy Hedgehog Friends” Age, it’d be much muuuuccchh more cringe inducing. Featuring every single character getting brutally MAMED and SHREDDED in the most unpleasant ways possible just for the sake of “Comedy”, And not even done in ways that are actually funny like in Tom & Jerry or all those old Tex Avery cartoons where it follows actual slapstick physics. And this is coming from someone who watches Jojo and Dragon Ball regularly.
            Hell, I think the only ones who’d get any enjoyment out of that would be these asses who go on about how every character that isn’t Sonic or Eggman is the worst thing ever.

         3. The name “Happy Hedgehog Friends” is just purely in reference to Graff and Pontac, they themselves being writers for Happy Tree Friends. Doesn’t necessarily mean that the same antics that they make in that show have to be repeated with Sonic, just the simple fact that they are controlling what happens and what the characters say for the sake of a mediocre at best attempt at comedy is enough for me. That and it sounds catchy and funny in a dry sort of way, ironic considering how that’s how they’re trying to have half of Sonic’s dialogue anyway, but failing miserably.

         4. Good point, tho I’d CRINGE to see if they were given the chance to go full-on HTF with Sonic. Hell, I’d bet they’d JUMP at the chance to do that if they could.
            I just felt that Boom and Colors pretty much cover a lot of the key aspects on what I don’t like that much with 2010’s Sonic. The bland comedy, the over-use of rather bland gameplay mechanics and/or the nerfing or throwing away of existing elements that made the games fun (someone tell me why Sonic can be powered up sooo much in Unleashed yet he gets a dinky as hell Boost in Colors? And I don’t even need to MENTION Sonic 4)

7. I-is SEGA listening to us? Is this the same company?

   1. Actually this isn’t Sega, it’s just the guy writing for the movie. But at least he’s listening!

      1. Don’t ruin my moment. It’s an inch of a step in the right direction.

         1. Not trying to ruin it, just making sure you can tell the difference. Besides, if Sega is going to hold true to what they have been saying so far, then with this announcement we at least don’t have to worry about a writer not caring at all. As long as both parties are equally committed we should have little worries.

      2. That’s right, also a lot could change from now up to the movie release but the sole fact that he is being allowed to write a PG-13 action packed movie without a comedy focus (at least in the same vein as Smurfs, Garfield, etc) speaks really good about the movie 😀

8. Didn’t completely answer the meat of the question, but still a reassuring sign nonetheless. At least this shows some idea that they are being considerate about how they go about this movie. Like I’ve said before, this can be done well.

9. I won’t fall for your lies.

10. lol seriously Donnie? That post is like 2 years old and only NOW you mention it?

    smh Donnie.

    1. Oh… yeah, now I see it really is old…
       But I am glad Donnie posted it. I think that people never registered this piece of info. And now, when we learned about the movie coming out in 2018, it’s topical to talk about it… despite we have basically no info.
       So it’s a nice reminder. It can make people worry less about the movie.

       That is…

       … if that info is not obsolete and they decided to scrap it this reasoning and Make Smurfs: Sonic edition… Oh my…

11. Well, the date on the corresponding image just proves how much this community needs some concrete infos already instead of the cryptic bullshitting around or else you wouldn’t post news articles about 2 year old statements or give each sentence of Iizuka’s recent interview it’s separate news article, lol.

12. I believe the biggest problem all these movies have in common is that they never took themselves seriously, not even in the slightest bit. And simultaneously liked to remind the audience that “woow [insert character] in that real world? sooooo wacky!” every 3 seconds. Pretty much the same problem Pontac and Graff have, just on a much larger scale.

    That begin said, I hope he doesn’t take the writing to far in the other direction, where the movie takes itself way too seriously that it becomes a cheese-fest. However, I’m cautiously optimistic that they’ll be able to find the right balance.

    1. “On a much larger scale”
       You mean because those were movies, right? Not because Pontac and Graff were not as bad. Cause they were. Pontac and Graff almost never drop the: “Wow, look at this! It’s stupid and wacky!” act.
       The thought of them writing for any kind of movie whatsoever terrifies me.Hopefully nobody will be stupid enough to ever give either of them the opportunity to write for a movie (any movie).

       I think that the problem with “serious” pieces of fiction is not when they take themselves “too seriously”. That is pretty misleading to say it like that. The problem is when the movie is trying to be serious but FAILS at that – and not because of “being serious”, but because the story is not good enough to be believable. That’s why the viewers find it stupid. And when stupid movie is trying to take itself seriously, that is what irritates the viewers.
       However, I hope that one day, the producers and directors will try to solve this problem by improving the writing (visuals, action, scenes editing, music, dialogs) instead of just dumbing down the entire concept and going with it being stupid. The concept of Sonic the Hedgehog is not that stupid as many Sonic fans want us to believe damn it!
       Look at Avengers for example: Yeah, you can hear characters making jokes throughout the movie. They are making jokes all the time. Yet you never get the impression that they are mocking themselves or that they are not taking themselves seriously. Everything is serious, despite it’s bright, over the top and grandiose.
       That’s what I hope the Sonic movie will be. It has all the prerequisites for it. Bigger than life characters with superpowers, big stakes, grandiose conflict, powerful villains, fantastic world… Sometimes so fantastic and bizarre, that you have serious doubts it can work in a blockbuster movie… but in the end, IT DOES! This Sonic movie has the chance of becoming a very good and spectacular movie.

       So please Holywood… don’t make the movie about Chris Thorndyke or Megan Fox…

       1. @Shadow
          Yes, my thoughts pretty much exactly.

       2. This just in! Megan Fix has been cast as Christina Thorndyke in the new Sonic movie. lolz

          1. Wow. Fox… The Christina thing was on purpose tho c:

    2. Well at least someone is actually thinking about whether the writing for the movie will be good or not. Honestly, all anyone ever gets hung up over around here is the fact that it is going to be filmed like The Smurfs and Alvin and the Chipmunks. Can’t we just be worried about it being WRITTEN like those movies instead? Keep Pontac and Graff as far away from this movie as possible, and that’s at least one problem we won’t have to worry about.

13. If, and I emphasize IF, I can believe Van – then this is the only piece of Sonic news in years that I personally consider a good news.

    Maybe I can even forgive them for not giving us basically any info, as the movie is still 2 years away apparently.

    However, this year’s anniversary Sonic game – that’s another issue. Here, This game is supposed to be out this year and we still know nothing (and even less so than what we know about the movie). That is very troubling.

    1. No it’s not , that’s normal for every recent sonic games to announce them in April/ May and release it in October /November .
       we are still in February .
       Be patient people!

       1. It’s not less troubling just because it happens all the time. If anything, it’s more troubling because of that. Because we know what is it that happens all the time because of this custom.
          It gets announced at the very last moment, everything is presented as finalized, no feedback can be taken into account… and it still gets rushed and it’s either buggy or half of the content is missing – or BOTH!
          And then SEGA releases the game and runs away from it.

          At first they shout: “It’s too early, don’t judge!”
          At the end they shout: “It’s too late, you can’t blame us!”
          It’s not about not being patient. It’s about their fragged up quality and feedback policies. What they demonstrate is a strategy of accountability avoidance.

          1. That doesn’t really mean anything ,in fact the exact opposite thing happened , in the last 10 years, the earliest main sonic game that was announced before it’s release was…….Sonic 2006 , in E3 2005, there was like year and a half between the announcement and the release of the game and you know exactly how it turned out in the end.

             If you want to count non-main sonic games , there is both Sonic 4 and Sonic Boom , which had longer marketing cycles than main sonic games ,and both of them were huge disappointments ,it is ironic when you think about it.

             So, announcements doesn’t really mean anything about the quality of the games , SM3DW was announced and released in the same year , it had even shorter marketing cycle than usual Sonic games, the reception to the announcement trailer was generally poor but in the end it turned out to be a great game.

             Meanwhile , games like The Order 1886 , or, if we want to state more extreme examples ….Duke Nukem Forever and Too Human , were announced waaaaaaaaaaaay too early, it didn’t help them in any way when the final products were terrible , in fact ; you could say that the disappointments were only bigger because of the gap between the announcement and release, if anything , all it does is raising anticipation and expectations with every passing day , and when the final product don’t meet them, the disappointment can only be bigger.

             I am personally still excited for Mighty No.9 , but a lot of people aren’t excited anymore cause it was announced like 3 years ago and with the consistent delays and such ,a lot of them don’t care now and just want the game to be released ASAP and be done with it , that wouldn’t happen if the game was funded from big publishers and were developed in secret and then they announced it in,say, E3 2015 .

             That’s why the current market cycle for Sonic games is good, 6 months are perfect for announcing the game and market it properly with trailers and such without long dead spaces, if the game turned out to be good in the end….great! if it turned out to be bad….well at least you didn’t wait years for that

          2. Sonic 06 went through development hell. From what I know, the developers were in heavy disputes and the public reception didn’t really matter all that much. Naka leaving with half of the staff that had worked on 06 did what it did. It wasn’t because they announced it too early.

             Well, of course that announcing the game early is not enough. It’s not some kind of magical spell that itself solves all the problems.
             I don’t know much about Sonic 4 as I never had any interest in it… but I do know about Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric. I read all the interviews, seen all the behind the scenes videos, read most of their forum posts… and them announcing this game early was not that caused the problems. It was them working very poorly with the public reception. When the gameplay was revealed, people were like:
             “Man, this looks slow, tedious and boring. And it’s annoying how the characters constantly talk. These running sequences are plain. Please, make it better.”
             And what did we get in response? At first, it was somehow agreeing that they will make it better… then it was them convincing us that we saw only a a small fraction of the game and that the rest will be better… then it was them trying to convince us that the overall experience will be superb and that we should just wait and see… and then they decided to stop talking to us because “we were mean”.
             And how did it turn out? The game was released and it was slow, tedious, boring, annoying characters, plain running sequences… and we got some repetitive puzzles on top of that. Surprise surprise.
             If this is how the feedback was supposed to go, then the result would be the very same even if they released the game on the day of announcement.

             Today, it’s even worse because Sonic lacks any kind of identity. Nobody knows what direction he will take. So them keeping the content of this new game secret is them (possibly) preparing themselves for the ultimate realization that majority of the Sonic fans and most likely even the general public will simply refuse that game. They will announce it at the very last moment, only to learn that all their work was for nothing. A bit like Metroid Prime Federation Force. That’s what I suspect.
             And if they don’t want to reveal it because they don’t want people to be disappointed, it only feeds this theory some more…

             I can’t imagine a scenario in which a good a worthwhile Sonic game (that will regain him some glory) can be so suddenly announced and released at the very last moment.
             The games you listed didn’t fail because they were announced too early. I doubt that Duke Nukem or the Order would be praised or sold more if they just suddenly appeared on the market the way they ended up to be.
             It was always just a matter of the quality of the final product. If the product was supposed to be “meh”, then some tease/announce/release strategy wouldn’t do anything with it. Yeah, more people are gonna be disappointed if it’s announced too early… but equal amount of people will not even notice that game if it’s announced at the last moment. Game that gets announced so late AND is underwhelming doesn’t really fare much better.
             And if people are bound to expect that Sonic franchise just keeps releasing games on yearly basis and that there is nothing to anticipate… that a new Sonic game is just a mandatory obligation for SEGA to make money… then who will possibly care about some kind of abstract “anniversary”? Why are they marketing it as anniversary, if it’s supposed to be the same old deal like any other Sonic game – just something small where we are not really supposed to expect too much or else we get disappointed?

             Quite an expectation…

14. It’s official. The industry (SEGA, Archie, Sony, etc.) is spying on forum posts.

15. This will be nothing like Alvin, Smurfs or Garfield. Viewers will be pleasantly surprised to know we are aiming for more of a Yogi-Bear, Scooby-Doo, Underdog style of film.

    1. I actually think that Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed was pretty good. The first one was just weird howewer. O_o

16. My only other concern about this film is whether or not Sonic will be portrayed as a reckless idiot who has to be told like a two-year old and is given a female foil who nags him to death. ……Entertainment? No.

    1. You mean the OVA?

17. Is it bad that this only makes me more wary? I just hope it’s half decent…

    1. Same here. Nearly every 3D animated film made by Sony Pictures has flopped big time at box office and received a failing Rotten Tomatoes score averaging at 20 to 30 out of 100. To make matters worse, Sony Pictures’ first video game movie, Pixel, also was a massive failure. It scored a paltry 17 out of 100 at Rotten Tomatoes–ouch!

       The question is if this movie can buck the trend of “underwhelmininess” at both Sony Pictures and at SEGA. I feel this will take huge leap of faith and due diligence from both parties. Realize also that Van made referenced in ssf1991’s article before Pixel was released. Maybe he has now been questioning things, too, after that awful movie.

       1. Same here. Nearly every 3D animated film made by Sony Pictures has flopped big time at box office and received a failing Rotten Tomatoes score averaging at 20 to 30 out of 100. To make matters worse, Sony Pictures’ first and recent video game movie, Pixel, also was a massive failure. It scored a paltry 17 out of 100 at Rotten Tomatoes–ouch!

          The question here is if this movie can buck the trend of “underwhelmingness” at both Sony Pictures and at SEGA. I feel this will take a huge leap of faith and monstrous due diligence from both parties. Realize also that Van’s post that ssf1991 referenced in this article was long before Pixel was released. Maybe he has now been questioning things, too, after that awful movie.

18. What a non-report. Good job digging up old statements Donnie.

    I’ll believe it when I see it; they’re still aiming for a PG-13 rating and that still has me unsure.

    Talk is cheap.

    1. “What a non-report.”

       Well seeing how it’s something related to the movie that one of the writers said and it’s about a topic a lot of people were concerned about, then yes, it’s newsworthy.

       “Good job digging up old statements Donnie.”

       Sorry for not being perfect.

       1. “Well seeing how it’s something related to the movie that one of the writers said and it’s about a topic a lot of people were concerned about, then yes, it’s newsworthy.”

          And it only took several years to see the comment. Perhaps you should try doing your ‘job’ better.

          1. lol well MM2, seeing as you’re such an expert on this sort of thing, perhaps you can delight us with a journalistic website that only has breaking information on incredibly important info such as this where we can all come and get our fix of spot on, brand new, really important info.

19. What if they try to make it more like The Avengers and Transformers? (The first one not the other 3 lame films. You might not like the first one either but it was at least much better than the sequels and a lot of ppl DID like the first Transformers XD)

20. What? Who else even thinks this will be like Alvin or Smurfs? I’m worried it’ll be like Transformers. In fact, I think I would be more at ease if their intent was to make it like Alvin or Smurfs.

21. More like… people are going to be pleasantly SMURFED if you ask me.

    … But seriously, I can already see the “Sonic in NY” plot coming a mile away.

    1. I don’t know, to me he’s saying that that’s exactly what they WON’T do.

       I’m kinda hopeful we get something more serious with a “sonic adventure 2” feel. (heck, I can see a Live Action Maria working well)

22. 2018 huh? Kinda expected a delay but I didn’t expect the delay to be for 2 years… interesting.

23. I hope that Shadow and Silver are in the film

    1. I doubt that they will introduce them in the very first Sonic film. Maybe Shadow, if they decide to recreate SA2 in a movie… but I find that unlikely.
       If those characters are to appear, they may appear in sequels. If those movies will ever come to be that is…

24. As long as it’s got Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and not EGGMAN.

    Seriously, everything wrong with this series now-a-days can be traced back to when Sega of America made that switch.

    It was SO much more than just keeping his name the same internationally.

    THINK ABOUT IT.

    Before Eggman, who was Robotnik? An evil genius, dark, menacing, CAPABLE, he enslaved almost an entire planet into cyborg slaves. His campaign for domination, his attacks on sonic, everything was MUCH darker.

    Ever since they dropped that out, it’s all gone downhill.

    Sonic is no longer cool because his greatest threat is a bumbling idiot who can barely spend 3 seconds on screen before falling over or making an idiot of himself.

    Sonic no long has a worthy challenge to step up to, he’s just running around neverland making fittingly child-like one-liners.

    It’s ALL about the villian and the resulting setup of good vs evil.

    Childlike villian = Childlike hero

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