Today, Sonic the Hedgehog director Jeff Fowler took to Twitter to reveal that the upcoming live-action movie starring the blue hedgehog has been delayed from November 8th to February 14, 2020, which happens to be Valentine’s Day. In other words, it has been bumped back a couple of months. Fowler didn’t divulge why the film is being delayed, but suggested it involves the controversy the character’s design caused when revealed earlier this month.
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Back on May 1st, the movie’s first-ever trailer was revealed. And it didn’t go well. Following the trailer going live, the movie was engulfed in controversy surrounding its design of Sonic, which was a bit unconventional to say the least. The uproar and backlash was so bad in fact that Fowler announced changes to the design would be made as a result, and now it looks like those changes have caused the movie to be delayed.
Taking a little more time to make Sonic just right.#novfxartistswereharmedinthemakingofthismovie pic.twitter.com/gxhu9lhU76
— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 24, 2019
“Thank you for the support. And the criticism,” Fowler said at the time. “The message is loud and clear… you aren’t happy with the design and you want changes. It’s going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be.”
After Fowler made the announcement of design changes, concerns were raised that this would mean certain developers on the movie would have to work extremely hard in order to get the changes in before the movie released in November, and so this explains why in the delay announcement Fowler notes that no VFX artists will be harmed making the movie.
Sonic the Hedgehog is now poised to release worldwide on February 14, 2020. Unfortunately, Fowler and Paramount haven’t disclosed when we can expect to see more of the movie, but it could be a little bit as the team reworks the Sonic design.
For more news, media, and information on the upcoming movie, be sure to check out all of our previous coverage here. And, as always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think or hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there.
