Sonic finally coming to the big-screen?

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cjmcray
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Sonic finally coming to the big-screen?

Post by cjmcray »

Maybe..
Though several community watercoolers were offline yesterday in protest of the SOPA and PIPA legislation, those that remained active were abuzz of word some sort of official Sonic movie may be in development by Sega Sammy’s animation arm in Japan, Marza Animation Planet.

Though there remain skeptics, it helps when the alleged source is one of the main men behind Sonic, Yuji Naka. Recently, Mr. Naka took a trip to Marza, and via his Facebook and Twitter feeds, mentioned something about a Sonic animation while there. It had been tough to this point to get a proper translation, which has been key in determining what Mr. Naka actually said. So we asked our Japan based reporter Danny Russell, fluent in the language, to help us. From Danny, here is what Mr. Naka said in part:

"Marza Animation Planet is made up of members from VE R&D (http://sega.jp/corp/saiyo/csjob/ve.shtml), which is a division he had a hand in creating. It looks like they’re working on a Sonic movie. Their offices seem nice, and they have a screening room / theatre there."

Danny further clarified tonight, saying Mr. Naka’s remarks don’t necessarily confirm or deny anything that was fit for release–just that work toward a Sonic animation was seen while at the studio, and it appeared to be part of a larger movie project.

Sega, for their part, have said nothing on the matter. While the work could be for an upcoming game or an internal project, there is at least some hope Sega Sammy is pushing its animation studio toward pushing the company’s flagship franchise on to the big screen. If we hear anything more, we will pass it along. Thanks to all who tipped us off to this story.
http://www.tssznews.com/2012/01/19/yuji ... the-works/

Seems like now is as good a time as any to release a Sonic movie. Colors and Generations both did well, Sonic appeared at the Macy's Parade a few months ago, had a skating competition on on Fox Sports, appeared in an ad for Progressive Insurance, and has a huge line of action figures.

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FlashTHD
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Re: Sonic finally coming to the big-screen?

Post by FlashTHD »

Or it could just as easily be another short like Night of the Werehog. Which would be nice, but for once this decade I wish they'd do one in anime again and not CG.

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Re: Sonic finally coming to the big-screen?

Post by Farmer »

As long as the dialogue doesn't make me want to slam the scriptwriter's head in a drawer, this could in theory be okay..

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Re: Sonic finally coming to the big-screen?

Post by Wombatwarlord777 »

I'd love for any Sonic-related feature to be an animation, stylized to really emphasize speed and flashiness. The Sonic OVM is the best example in the franchise of what I want, but in my wildest dreams we'd get something that could compete with fricken' REDLINE.

I know that's asking for too much, but even a 9-minute short with comparable quality would blow my mind.

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Esrever
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Re: Sonic finally coming to the big-screen?

Post by Esrever »

Unleashed and Colours had gorgeous CG cutscenes with some really fun, surprisingly cartoony animation. I'd love to see that team handle a Sonic film, long or short.

I'm not sure if a feature is a good idea. Sonic's story doesn't really have much inherent weight or depth to work with, which means they'd have to flesh it out -- which, in the case of most children's licenses, usually means inserting the same standard hackneyed Saturday morning tropes.

I could go for a short or two, though! I always thought the very first episode of Sonic X was a good template for that kind of project: a simple, clean, fun story that revolved around Sonic's ability to outrun everything. Perfect! Too bad about the rest of the series.

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