Jeff Fowler (Sonic the Hedgehog director): "You want changes [to the design]. It's going to happen."

[Irrotational]

Era and its conspiracy theories lol.

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I don't think it's cut and dry like the original you quoted BUT they could have decided to use the design as marketing.

1. Go with genuine vision of sonic
2. Leaks of poster get a lot (relative for sonic) of internet commentary
3. Trailer is presumably the first thing that's been fully rendered and they decide to show it to get a bigger reaction
4. Shortly after 2, they also start planning how the CG can be redone in the main film and basically get a new model up and running
5. Trailer shown, lots of mindshare achieved, and promises can be made of a rapid fix.

Is it likely? No idea, but it's certainly plausible.

If you're deep in production, the poster leaks, and it looks like people will be "horrified" by the design, then the events that have happened are the least worst way out of that hole...if not the most honest!

 

[Marmoka]

Well, looks like they are listening...
Whoever thought that Sonic was a good idea should stay away from the new design.
Just make him more cartoonish. That should work.

 

[Deleted member 9971]

I guess they are updating sonic so he fits more into the super smash brothers cinematic universe.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Either he's bullshitting or doesn't know what the fuck he is doing or how film production works.

 

[Ploid 6.0]

It looks like video game crunch will expand beyond video games, unfortunately.

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Crunch seems to happen all the time for CGI companies, especially since they compete with other CGI companies, even driving down their prices for a gig to try to get popular with the studios. Forgot where I saw this info from. It just seems all around not so good for them.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

So many miserable people on this forum

 

[Assenzio]

Either he's bullshitting or doesn't know what the fuck he is doing or how film production works.

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Yep.

Either they are ready to loose millions and delay the launch or this is bullshit

 

[Deleted member 9971]

Crunch is not even video game exclusive its widespread lots of people work over 60+ hours in real life sadly for bad pay sometimes even minimum wage or less even too. Honestly never got how over 40 is normalized 40 already is alot imo but not the crazy kind atleast.

 

[Cyn]

Haven't they already printed up art books for this shit? Gonna have to redo all the marketing materials and merch too... I can't see it changing much tbh

 

[Specific Power Ranger]

Crunch seems to happen all the time for CGI companies, especially since they compete with other CGI companies, even driving down their prices for a gig to try to get popular with the studios. Forgot where I saw this info from. It just seems all around not so good for them.

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Life of Pi is a great example of this. While the movie was recieving the oscar for best special effects, the studio behind them were going bankrupt.

 

[Tiny Chihuahueño]

Whoever okayed the original design must be banned from Hollywood forever. His or her ideas are dangerous and needs to be punished.

 

[Deleted member 33412]

from the twitter thread. this looks good imo

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This looks good until he stops frowning

 

[Virtua Sanus]

I'm kind of surprised Sega gave the okay to that design. Nintendo would never allow something like that to happen to Mario and yes I know about the 90's SMB movie but that came out before they had properly codified Mario's design.

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You think Nintendo was happy with anything in that movie? Do you remember the Goombas?

SEGA has very, very little say in what happens with the movie. Movie companies are working with way more money in situations like these so they always have serious leverage over the IP holders.

 

[eZipsis]

Maybe the design shown was actually changed months ago when they leaked and this is all a big PR move by "giving fans what they want" after releasing a trailer they knew people would get a little upset at.

 

[golguin]

"A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever."

Anyone and everyone said the design was bad when it first leaked. Don't know why they had to wait for everyone to make a youtube video or twitter post about the bad design.

 

[Clefargle]

Maybe the design shown was actually changed months ago when they leaked and this is all a big PR move by "giving fans what they want" after releasing a trailer they knew people would get a little upset at.

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[iswasdoes]

We'll see when we see it.

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Opening night. This is the most genius stunt in the history of film marketing

 

[AztecComplex]

Oh dear this shitshow even made it to Colbert's Late Show! Go to the 2:05 mark for the Sonic segment and mad props to Jon Baptiste for something I assume he improvised and I'm not ruining for you.

Watch, it's not even a minute long:

 

[Slim]

Should've changed the design when it leaked.

 

[Dust]

Is this really worth it?
This movie won't escape the bargain bin no matter how the Sonic looks.

 

[Infinity Times Two]

Oh dear this shitshow even made it to Colbert's Late Show! Go to the 2:05 mark for the Sonic segment and mad props to Jon Baptiste for something I assume he improvised and I'm not ruining for you.

Watch, it's not even a minute long:

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It's amazing how John Baptistes improvised little thing can fill you with a warm nostalgia about Sonic in a way an entire fucking trailer couldn't.

 

[Santerestil]

"Those are the creepiest human teeth to be added to a burrowing shrew since Rudy Giuliani"

 

[eZipsis]

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But what if... this was exactly how it worked...

Spoiler

I know it isn't.

 

[Big Boy]

Why does he have soft fur instead of quills?

 

[Combichristoffersen]

A redesign alone isn't going to save this, but it might make it somewhat more tolerable. The current design is just plain awful.

 

[Hayeya]

Does he mean by change removing all actors and real life location and making the film CG?
If no, God help us

 

[Infinity Times Two]

Why does he have soft fur instead of quills?

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High recognition between merchandising, namely Sonic plushies, and the character you saw in the movie.

 

[Rat King]

 

[Dr Doom]

Oh dear this shitshow even made it to Colbert's Late Show! Go to the 2:05 mark for the Sonic segment and mad props to Jon Baptiste for something I assume he improvised and I'm not ruining for you.

Watch, it's not even a minute long:

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That was good

 

[Pascal]

So many miserable people on this forum

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Being a Sonic fan is a life of misery.

 

[MrBadger]

I don't like this. It really won't change the movie that much, and all it means is the film staff will have to work overtime, unless the movie is delayed. Giving Sonic his boring 'Modern' design won't fix anything.

Just release it as-is. People have been tearing this movie down ever since the only thing we knew was that it was a buddy cop movie with a CG Sonic.

 

[PlzUninstall]

Without being delayed? Impressive

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No, it's not impressive. It's call forcing overtime.

I'm all for taking some feedback but at this late stage? Why not stick to your guns? You're going to burn out your staff re-doing a large amount of work and all to bend to the whims of a vocal minority.

 

[Spacejaws]

People acting like crunch is a video game exclusive practice are a bit misguided. I was involved with installing theatre shows and it's not abnormal for 3-4 weeks for people to fudge their timeclocks and work over the maximum 14 hours a day to get the work done while the VP's and creatives work 9am-6pm and pat themselves on the back when it's all over.

They are also the first to jump out leaving the operating team to rectify everything that falls apart afterward and still send snotty emails about a light that didn't look right in one scene when you are putting out fires left right and centre to make the thing work.

It's more than videogame culture I think.

 

[klier]

[Kinda makes me concerned for the animators who'll probably have to crunch to get this done.

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Aah, those poor, poor people. I am VERY concerned for their well being!

 

[NotLiquid]

Either he's bullshitting or doesn't know what the fuck he is doing or how film production works.

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Fowler is an animator who's worked on academy award nominated films so I reckon he does know a thing or two about film production.

I'm thinking they had to have been redesigning Sonic based on feedback since the trailer screenings (this particular trailer has been in circulation since last year). They probably knew for a long time now that the design was a stinker. This might look like a move that's going to lead to a lot of crunch, but I get the sense that they planned for it well in advance and that this is basically a tone-deaf PR move since they need to start marketing the movie already now that we're six months away from release.

Maybe that's needlessly optimistic of me to assume.

 

[Tiny Chihuahueño]

High recognition between merchandising, namely Sonic plushies, and the character you saw in the movie.

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You mean like every other Sonic plush?

No, it's not impressive. It's call forcing overtime.

I'm all for taking some feedback but at this late stage? Why not stick to your guns? You're going to burn out your staff re-doing a large amount of work and all to bend to the whims of a vocal minority.

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Well, I don't think I would call it 'a vocal minority' in this particular situation. I feel like there's a consensus on this being awful and everyone who's going to watch it is doing it 'for the lolz'

 

[nu_faust]

hopefully they'll also realize having Jim Carey is the best thing they have about this movie and include every second of footage of his in the final edit.

 

[Red Arremer]

Oh dear this shitshow even made it to Colbert's Late Show! Go to the 2:05 mark for the Sonic segment and mad props to Jon Baptiste for something I assume he improvised and I'm not ruining for you.

Watch, it's not even a minute long:

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He's actually played video game music (including the Green Hill Zone theme!) a few times before. :)

 

[PlzUninstall]

Well, I don't think I would call it 'a vocal minority' in this particular situation. I feel like there's a consensus on this being awful and everyone who's going to watch it is doing it 'for the lolz'

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Of course you do, you're on a video game forum. The online discourse is almost always the minority. I'm referring to the audience that will actually go to see this movie. Realistically the majority will just be parents taking their children to see it, who mostly have a vague idea who Sonic is based on osmosis from popular culture.

Personally the design is a very small part of the problem on show here, I certainly don't have high hopes for the acting nor the story of Sonic movie. I'm open to being corrected of course but I certainly don't think going back to the design board at this point is really going to help as much as they want it to.

 

[Slim]

hopefully they'll also realize having Jim Carey is the best thing they have about this movie and include every second of footage of his in the final edit.

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This^

 

[NotLiquid]

Of course you do, you're on a video game forum. The online discourse is almost always the minority. I'm referring to the audience that will actually go to see this movie. Realistically the majority will just be parents taking their children to see it, who mostly have a vague idea who Sonic is based on osmosis from popular culture.

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The trailer on Paramount's channel has 22 million views right now and close to 500k dislikes. The Sonic design has been meme'd into oblivion since the second it went public, it's even being talked about in mainstream publications and there's even been one account of print media.

Let's stop putting our heads in the sand and pretend this is just enthusiast discourse. The design has been panned to oblivion, and to pretend otherwise is seriously underestimating how fast people take to online news and word of mouth.

 

[Mars People]

How they oked the original designed kinda blows my mind.
Did nobody stop and say 'wait this looks fucking terrible.

 

[AnimeJesus]

I honestly think the current design looks fine...and I say that as someone with an irrational dislike for all things Sonic. Hopefully they dont do the one giant eyeball thing....thats just disturbing.

 

[ILikeFeet]

The trailer on Paramount's channel has 22 million views right now and close to 500k dislikes. The Sonic design has been meme'd into oblivion since the second it went public, it's even being talked about in mainstream publications and there's even been one account of print media.

Let's stop putting our heads in the sand and pretend this is just enthusiast discourse. The design has been panned to oblivion, and to pretend otherwise is seriously underestimating how fast people take to online news and word of mouth.

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This is the reason the "we really had a good design all along" conspiracy doesn't work. No one is gonna think you're that clever. They're gonna think you had to rush to fix it to save face. And no, that doesn't make the audience have faith, it makes them have less faith

 

[Vidiot]

Sonic is like a cursed brand. It's amazing we got to have something as good as Mania and his inclusion in the Smash Bros series.

 

[NotLiquid]

This is the reason the "we really had a good design all along" conspiracy doesn't work. No one is gonna think you're that clever. They're gonna think you had to rush to fix it to save face. And no, that doesn't make the audience have faith, it makes them have less faith

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I 100% believe Paramount's producers were incompetent enough to believe this design would go down well, what I'm a bit more mixed on is whether or not this decision to change it came from the top just a few days ago as opposed to a few months ago when they already began screening it to audiences.

 

[clickKunst]

I will be there day one if they change Sonic to look like this.

 

[Starfire22]

You know, design aside (which I agree should be changed), I think they should change the teeth too. Make it more cartoonish like Sonic in the SatAM series.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Wasn't most of the production of this movie done by Sony before they sold it to Paramount?

 

[No Depth]

Oh dear this shitshow even made it to Colbert's Late Show! Go to the 2:05 mark for the Sonic segment and mad props to Jon Baptiste for something I assume he improvised and I'm not ruining for you.

Watch, it's not even a minute long:

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That was a great riff by Jon.