$ 5 million solutions to the franchise of one billion dollars

Sonic The Hedgehog can run faster than the speed of light, but its film franchise almost stopped in 2019.

A progress of less than three minutes released earlier that year to cause the release of the film, which was just six months away, was widely displaced by fans who went to social networks to criticize the design of Paramount characters. Nicknamed “Feo Sonic”, the blue creature that appeared in the movie was far from the iconic Speedster video game.

Cinematic Sonic, version 1, had more realistic facial characteristics, including teeth as humans, and the proportions of their body were considered inconsistent with the character's fans who grew up in the 90s.

“The trailer goes out, and I think it became the most watched trailer in the history of Paramount Pictures. Which is incredible,” said Toby Ascher, who acquired the rights of Sonic and produced the film franchise. “The only problem was that 90% of people hated the trailer due to Sonic design.”

“Suddenly, we really try it, very hard to make an adaptation of really faithful video games to be the next one in the line of the people who had ruined video games for all. It was simply a disaster of epic proportions,” Ascher added.

The study turned, opting to redesign the main character and push the release of the return film three months to February 2020. The cost of fixation Supreme Around $ 5 million but resulted in a franchise that has generated almost $ 1.2 billion at the global box office. The study expects to take advantage of that impulse with a fourth installment in the films franchise, which will debut in 2027.

“The Sonic franchise owes its box office and longevity success to a monumental decision at the beginning of the development of the first films marketing campaign,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst in Comscore. “A redesign of a main character is not something small … These decisions can make or break what the dream of each study of having a single film becomes a long -term revenue generating franchise. The return of investment by converting an 'ugly' into a beautiful revenue generating franchise is unspeakable.”

Ascher first acquired the rights of Sonic The Hedgehog in 2013, a moment in Hollywood when movies inspired by the video game did not resonate with the public.

“When we started working in Sonic, making an adaptation in the video game was a very bad idea,” he told CNBC.

No film based on a video game property, until that time, had managed to win a positive qualification of the Rotten Tomatoes Review aggregator. It was not until 2019 that a video game -based film generated a “new” qualification on the site, which indicates more than 60% of positive criticism.

“I don't think anyone really thought that making a sound film was a good idea,” Ascher said. “But I think our strategy was that we had grown up with these games. We have grown up with these characters and we wanted to treat them like any other character. We wanted to give them real emotional arches and real emotional stories where you could relate to them.”

Ascher said that previous adaptations of video games generally focused on world construction instead of the character's development.

“What we have been able to do is inject into the heart of the franchise, and I think that is what did it different,” said Neal Moritz, producer and producer of franchises such as “The Fast and the Furious” and “21 Jump Street.”

Both Ascher and Moritz pointed out that while the film team behind the first “Sonic The Hedgehog” movie reviewed the main character's design, the story remained the same.

The film team was blind for the public reactions to the first trailer, but was resolved by trying to solve the problem instead of archiving it or launching it in its current form.

Moritz said he delivered a “passionate speech” to the heads of Paramount and Sega to allow the filmmakers to correct the error.

As Moritz recalls, he told executives: “We really ruin here, but there is an incredible amount of interest and what we must do is fix it … we need a little more money and we need more time. If you give us that, I think we could change this.”

“I give a lot of credit to Paramount and Sega,” Moritz said. “They said 'ok'.”

In the redesign, the team brought back the iconic white gloves of Sonic and the classic red shoes. They reinforced the character with some of their cartoon roots, and six months after the first trailer, Paramount launched a new iteration.

“Fans saw that we were trying to be really genuine in our love for this franchise,” said Ascher, noting that following the first trailer, the team began to involve more with fans and focal groups to increase feedback and inspiration.

The new trailer was well received by fans, and three months later “Sonic the Hedgehog” opened to $ 58 million at the box office. The characteristic was made $ 146 million nationwide before the closed theaters of the pandemic. Worldwide, he obtained $ 302 million.

The Sonic franchise has continued to thrive in the following years, with each monitoring feature surpassing the last.

“Sonic The Hedgehog 2” caught $ 190 million nationwide and $ 403 million worldwide, while “Sonic The Hedgehog 3” noted $ 235 million in the United States and $ 485 million worldwide.

“That is a great leap,” said Marc Weinstock, president of Marketing and World Distribution of Paramount. “I am excited that each new movie is better than the previous one, which is rare.”

After the success of the second film “Sonic”, the then president of the study and CEO of Paramount Pictures, Brian Robbins, Greenlit a series “Knuckles” based on the franchise for the company's transmission service, Paramount+, as well as a third Sonic film.

Sonic was becoming a multiplatforma, like Robbins and Paramount had done it for franchises such as “Turtles Ninja Mutante Teenage”, “A quiet place”, “Sponbob Squarepants” and “Paw Patrol”.

The show “Knuckles” generated more than 11 million hours of world visualization in its first 28 days in Parmount+.

Theatrical success also shot Sonic from a licensing business of $ 70 million to one that generates more than $ 1 billion in retail income annually, according to Ivo Gerscovich, senior vice president of Sega and business director and brand of Sonic The Hedgehog.

“The best thing about Sonic, and Sonic's success from the beginning, is that we have basically heard fans from day one,” Robbins said, now Paramount co-zo. “Fans are fans about this franchise and love this franchise and know this franchise. Because of that, they have become really key to shape the franchise … they evangelize it.”

Fans inspired Keanu Reeves's cast as Shadow, a Sonic archirival, in Sonic's third film. And the film team says that fans are still looking for to inspire which characters will add to the movies and the series below.

Ascher and Moritz made fun that Sonic's fourth movie again presents a new fans' favorite character, but said the team will continue to expand the franchise universe at a slow pace.

“If we suddenly bring all the characters, they will not have the time that the audience needs to understand them and interact with them and really fall in love with them,” Ascher said. “Then, as we bring characters, whether movie or is television, the most important thing is that they have a good story that really shows the character in an incredible way.”

Disclosure: Comcast is the nbcuniversal and CNBC parent company. Nbcuniversal has Rotten Tomatoes and is the movie distributor “The Fast and the Furious”.