Sonic won’t be going fast any time soon. The minds behind the upcoming Sonic movie delayed its release until 2020, according to a recent tweet by director Jeff Fowler. The move likely comes in response to widespread criticism of the film’s design. The tweet states that the delay is to “make Sonic just right.” For now, the November release date has been pushed back to February.
The movie stirred up fan ire for a number of reasons, mostly surrounding the design of the beloved Hedgehog. People were critical of Sonic’s strange appearance, looking more like a human/Sonic hybrid than anything resembling the famous character. Even details such as his gloves were missed by fans, many of whom were left wondering if the team behind the movie had played Sonic at all. The official trailer was panned on YouTube and turned into memes across the internet.
The criticism did not fall on deaf ears, as a tweet by Jeff Fowler on May 2 addressed:
“Thank you for the support. And the criticism. The message is loud and clear… you aren’t happy with the design & you want changes. It’s going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be.”
Given the promise to redo aspects of the movie and the recent delay to improve quality, it’s not a stretch to assume the two are tied together. There may have been too much work to do between the outcry and the November release date. Now, we’re looking at a four-month Sonic movie delay and a new release date of February 14, 2020. Yes, that’s Valentine’s Day and, no, this probably isn’t the best place for a first date.
Taking a little more time to make Sonic just right.#novfxartistswereharmedinthemakingofthismovie pic.twitter.com/gxhu9lhU76
— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 24, 2019
For what it’s worth, it looks like Sonic is wearing his gloves again. Perhaps there will be more good news to come.
