Sonic Team’s boss has suggested he isn’t keen to bring elements from the recent Sonic the Hedgehog movies and put them into future video games.

With rare exceptions (such as character Tails), the Sonic movies feature a new cast of actors and altered designs to the video games, and also give Sonic and Knuckles new origin stories.

Speaking to VGC in a recent Sonic Frontiers interview, studio head Takashi Iizuka said he would rather keep ‘game Sonic’ as the core of the video games, and attempt to expand on the series in order to appeal to a broader audience.

“Because the movie Sonic came from where the game started, trying to take the movie qualities and stick it back into the games doesn’t really work well,” he said.

“What I want to do is stay faithful to our game Sonic and really expand on the game Sonic to incorporate new ideas that are going to get people excited about new games.

“In our mobile games, we do have ‘Movie Sonic’ appearing as a guest character, and that kind of collaboration feels really good because there are people who saw the movie and only understand the character through that.

“But the game Sonic is really the core essence of the character, so instead of trying to take the movie and put it inside of the game, I really wanted to expand on the game to make it appealing to everyone.”

He added: “I think having Movie Sonic as a guest character is viable and certainly something that we’re going to do, but keeping the essence and core of Sonic in the games and then expanding out is probably what I’d prefer to do, rather than try to shoehorn in [the movie].”

The original Sonic the Hedgehog was a surprise success, with it becoming the top-grossing video game adaptation of all time in the US. Earlier this year, the original movie’s record was topped by its sequel, and paramount Pictures and Sega have confirmed that a third Sonic film and a live-action TV series have entered production.

Further reading

Commenting on the movies’ success, Iizuka said it presented a welcome challenge for Sonic Team because it now has a broader audience to satisfy with its game releases.

“Because of the success of the movies, we’re finding that we’re reaching into this wider audience of people who maybe never played the game before, or don’t play them that much. It’s this wider group of fans who we need to start now making content for.

“Honestly, it makes us all very happy, because we have more people now that we can bring content to. It is a challenge though, because we have maybe new gamers or people who haven’t played previous Sonic games, so we don’t think we can go out there with on single game that will make the entire audience excited.”

Following a teaser trailer, the first official trailer for Brett Morgan’s new David Bowie movie Moonage Daydream has been released. The new clip features footage and narration from Bowie. Watch below.

Moonage Daydream premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. The film, which Bowie’s estate approved, features unreleased 35mm and 16mm footage from his personal archives. Brett Morgen, best known for Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, directed, wrote, and produced the film. It hits theaters globally on Friday, September 16.

Revisit Pitchfork’s review of David Bowie’s Blackstar.

Sonic Team’s boss has suggested he isn’t keen to bring elements from the recent Sonic the Hedgehog movies and put them into future video games.

With rare exceptions (such as character Tails), the Sonic movies feature a new cast of actors and altered designs to the video games, and also give Sonic and Knuckles new origin stories.

Speaking to VGC in a recent Sonic Frontiers interview, studio head Takashi Iizuka said he would rather keep ‘game Sonic’ as the core of the video games, and attempt to expand on the series in order to appeal to a broader audience.

“Because the movie Sonic came from where the game started, trying to take the movie qualities and stick it back into the games doesn’t really work well,” he said.

“What I want to do is stay faithful to our game Sonic and really expand on the game Sonic to incorporate new ideas that are going to get people excited about new games.

“In our mobile games, we do have ‘Movie Sonic’ appearing as a guest character, and that kind of collaboration feels really good because there are people who saw the movie and only understand the character through that.

“But the game Sonic is really the core essence of the character, so instead of trying to take the movie and put it inside of the game, I really wanted to expand on the game to make it appealing to everyone.”

He added: “I think having Movie Sonic as a guest character is viable and certainly something that we’re going to do, but keeping the essence and core of Sonic in the games and then expanding out is probably what I’d prefer to do, rather than try to shoehorn in [the movie].”

The original Sonic the Hedgehog was a surprise success, with it becoming the top-grossing video game adaptation of all time in the US. Earlier this year, the original movie’s record was topped by its sequel, and paramount Pictures and Sega have confirmed that a third Sonic film and a live-action TV series have entered production.

Further reading

Commenting on the movies’ success, Iizuka said it presented a welcome challenge for Sonic Team because it now has a broader audience to satisfy with its game releases.

“Because of the success of the movies, we’re finding that we’re reaching into this wider audience of people who maybe never played the game before, or don’t play them that much. It’s this wider group of fans who we need to start now making content for.

“Honestly, it makes us all very happy, because we have more people now that we can bring content to. It is a challenge though, because we have maybe new gamers or people who haven’t played previous Sonic games, so we don’t think we can go out there with on single game that will make the entire audience excited.”

The Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie has now grossed over $400 million globally in under three months.

The live-action sequel, which was co-produced by Sega and paramount Pictures, debuted in selected markets on March 30.

The film is currently the fifth-highest grossing video game adaptation of all time, and as it’s still showing in cinemas it looks set to overtake Sony’s Uncharted movie, which was released in January.

The top-grossing video game adaptations (via Box Office Mojo):

• Warcraft: $439,048,914
• Detective Pikachu: $433,230,304
• Rampage: $428,028,233
• Uncharted: $401,622,829
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2: $400,015,446

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 also recently became the highest-grossing video game movie of all time in the United States, where it’s lifetime total has now reached $190.56 million.

Sega and paramount confirmed in February that a third Sonic film and a live-action TV series featuring Knuckles have entered production.

Commenting on the success of the movies in a recent VGC interview, Sonic Team’s boss said it presented a welcome challenge for the studio because it now has a broader audience to satisfy with its game releases.

“Because of the success of the movies, we’re finding that we’re reaching into this wider audience of people who maybe never played the game before, or don’t play them that much,” Takashi Iizuka said. “It’s this wider group of fans who we need to start now making content for.

“Honestly, it makes us all very happy, because we have more people now that we can bring content to. It is a challenge though, because we have maybe new gamers or people who haven’t played previous Sonic games, so we don’t think we can go out there with on single game that will make the entire audience excited.”

Further reading

Iizuka also suggested he isn’t keen to bring elements from the recent Sonic movies into future video games.

“Because the movie Sonic came from where the game started, trying to take the movie qualities and stick it back into the games doesn’t really work well,” he said.

“What I want to do is stay faithful to our game Sonic and really expand on the game Sonic to incorporate new ideas that are going to get people excited about new games.”

The story of director Parasuram’s Sarkaru Vaari Paata rides on the line that money makes the world go round. Nearly all the principal characters fall on either side of the divide — those who toil to repay their small loans and are pushed to the brink, and those who do not repay thousands of crores to the banks. Through the 162-minute narrative, Mahi (Mahesh Babu) asks why ordinary people should be harassed to repay loans of ₹10-15,000 when a business tycoon can get away without repaying ₹10,000 crore.

The thought is hammered through a narrative that is entertaining at first, even though familiar and formulaic, but eventually gets preachy and overdrawn. Parasuram tailors each scene to befit the superstar image of the lead actor. Take the introduction scene for instance, where Mahesh says the now famous line, ‘you can steal my love, you can steal my friendship, but you cannot steal my money’. He bashes up thugs in the US while stating that for every blow he receives, he will return 72 (because 1$=72 rupees). 

Had Mahi not been enacted by an actor with a superstar image, one would ask questions such as how he established a finance company in the US and what his credentials are. Instead, we hold on to the little information that the plotline discloses — that a boy whose parents took their own lives when unable to repay a bank loan, understands the power of those who lend as opposed to those who receive.

The Miami portions are the most entertaining part of the film, again, if you do not raise questions — such as if Kalavathi (Keerthy Suresh) is so silly as to toss her ID cards and passport to random people from whom she borrows money. Kalavathi is a glamorous hoodwinker and Mahi is so besotted that his otherwise sharp nose for money takes a backseat. 

‘It’s a boy thing!’ he tells Kalavathi after trailing her to a university in Miami. As expected, the line elicits cheers. It goes with the mood of the romance track that works because of the timing between Mahesh, Vennela Kishore (as his colleague) and Keerthy. You can either be dumbfounded at the silliness of it all, like how Kishore watches in disbelief or give in to the laughs. It also helps to not ask why Kalavathi stays in debt when just one phone call to her dad (in Visakhapatnam) can bring a helicopter and gunmen to her rescue within seconds in Miami.

The first half rolls by with scenes and song sequences that capitalise on Mahesh’s boyish looks and the charming female lead. Thaman’s background music and the catchy ‘Penny’ and ‘Kalavathi’ songs establish the momentum. Credit also goes to choreographer Shekhar and cinematographer R Madhi for handling these portions well.

The initial confrontations between Mahi and Rajendranath (Samuthirakani) in Vizag, have some spark. But once the battle lines are drawn and the issue of a huge bank loan repayment is highlighted, the rest of it hurtles towards a tiresome battle of wits. 

As Mahi repeatedly harps on the impact of loans on different sections of society, though well-intended, it gets boring. Mahi either sermonises or slaps people, from Brahmaji to Keerthy, to make them see things differently. Smarter writing would have certainly helped. 

Tanikella Bharani, Nadiya, Geetha Bhasker and several others crop up but ultimately, it’s Mahesh Babu’s show that leaves no room for others. Only Vennela Kishore manages to steal some attention with his perfectly-timed expressions, even though he speaks less. Samuthirakani’s characterisation, too, offers nothing innovative. 

It’s high time Mahesh looks beyond stories that have him returning from the United States to India on a mission, invariably delivering social messages and in turn saving people, the State or the country.