Following the success of the first film, Paramount Pictures has confirmed that the sequel will be released in May 2020. Filming takes occur in Vancouver and Hawaii from March to June 2021. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was released theatrically in numerous regions beginning March 30, 2022, and in the United States on April 8, 2022, by Paramount Pictures and Sega Sammy Group. It garnered mixed reviews from reviewers and earned more than $142 million worldwide, making it the seventh-highest-grossing picture of 2022. A third film and a spin-off series centered on Knuckles are in the works.
The PG-13 film performed significantly beyond projections, collecting $26.5 million from 4,234 locations on Friday. The initial weekend projection for Paramount was $71 million, but visitation was stronger than predicted on Sunday.
Families made up over 60% of the crowd. Because of the epidemic, games relying heavily on children and parents have failed to gain traction.
Sonic 2 is also one of the rare films from the COVID-19 period to debut before its predecessor. Other accolades: It is currently the greatest launch ever for a video game adaptation, surpassing the original Sonic, and it is also Paramount’s biggest three-day opening since 2014.
The first Sonic premiered to $58 million for the three-day Presidents’ Day weekend in February 2020, a month before theatres throughout the country shut down due to the developing COVID-19 issue, on its way to becoming the top-grossing video game movie of all time domestically ($148 million). Sonic 2 earned an additional $37 million from 53 regions outside of the United States, bringing the overseas total to $70 million and $141 million overall. This sequel based on Sega’s highly successful video game and media series stars James Marsden, Jim Carrey, and TikaSumpter as the otherworldly, vivid blue hedgehog (voiced by Ben Schwartz). The plot follows Sonic’s travels on Earth after he arrives from a faraway world.
Plot
Sonic the Hedgehog strives to protect the public as a vigilante some months after beating Doctor Robotnik and being adopted by Tom and Maddie Wachowski as their son. Sonic is advised by Tom to be patient until the day his powers are required before he and Maddie travel for her sister Rachel’s wedding in Hawaii. Sonic intends to have fun at home by himself but is ambushed by Robotnik, who has returned with the assistance of Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles wishes to respect his extinct tribe’s lineage and seeks the whereabouts of the mythical Master Emerald, an ancient relic that allows its holder to alter reality to their whim. Miles “Tails” Prower, a two-tailed fox who idolizes Sonic and came to warn him about Knuckles, saves him. Sonic persuades Tails to accompany him in his search for Master Emerald, while Robotnik reunites with his employee Stone and offers to assist Knuckles in his plan to grab the emerald for himself. Sonic and Tails pursue clues on a map left by Sonic’s late guardian Longclaw to Siberia, where they discover a compass within an ancient temple. Sonic and Tails are pursued down a mountain by Robotnik and Knuckles. Robotnik and Knuckles take the compass during the subsequent avalanche. Tom saves Sonic and Tails by teleporting them to the wedding using a ring.
Rachel’s fiancé and his wedding guests disguise themselves as Guardian Units of Nations (GUN) agents and kidnap Sonic, Tails, and Tom. While Maddie and an enraged Rachel struggle to save them, Robotnik and Knuckles discover an underwater temple housing Master Emerald. Sonic confronts Knuckles at the temple, but Robotnik snatches the emerald and abandons Knuckles to perish alongside Sonic as the temple falls. As Tails rescues them in an aircraft, Sonic and Knuckles escape and resolve to work together. Robotnik consumes Master Emerald, granting him omnipotence.
Robotnik eliminates GUN’s soldiers in Green Hills and constructs a massive robot imitating himself. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles team together to defeat the robot and retrieve Master Emerald, but it shatters, releasing the seven Chaos Emeralds. Sonic is rescued by Tom and Maddie after he transforms into Super Sonic using the Chaos Emeralds. He annihilates the robot before scattering the Emeralds and returning to normalcy. Knuckles reassembles Master Emerald from the fragments and offers to keep it safe with Sonic and Tails. The three return to their lovely lives with the Wachowskis.
Stone infiltrates GUN as it begins its search for Robotnik in the wreckage of the mech. An agent informs GUN Commander Walters that a 50-year-old file with coordinates to a research facility, which contains Project X, has been discovered.
Development
By April 2020, Marsden had shown interest in a sequel starring various characters from the video games, including Tails, who featured in the original film in a mid-credits sequence.
Director Jeff Fowler has also indicated an interest in creating a sequel that focuses on Sonic and Tails’ bond while also expanding on Dr.Robotnik.
Later that month, Schwartz stated that because of the COVID-19 epidemic, it made sense for Paramount Pictures not to have announced a sequel at that point and that he was interested in a sequel starring Tails and more game-accurate portrayal of Robotnik. Later that month, Sonic the Hedgehog co-writer Pat Casey said that conversations for a sequel had begun, albeit the picture had not yet been greenlit by Paramount.
In May, Paramount Pictures stated that a Sonic the Hedgehog sequel was in the works, with Fowler returning as a director with writers Casey and Josh Miller. The sequel will be produced by Neal H. Mortiz, Toby Ascher, and Toru Nakahara, who previously co-produced the original film with Takeshi Ito, while Tim Miller, Hajime Satomi, and Haruki Satomi will return as executive producers from the first film. Storyboard artist Fill Marc revealed in December that artist Tyson Hesse, who redesigned Sonic for the first film, will return. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is set to be released in February 2021. In May, Paramount submitted a patent to the United States Copyright Office catalog, which resulted in the distribution of a summary of the tale.
The film is inspired by the video games Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994), but it is not a faithful adaptation of any of them. The film, according to Fowler, is a “melting pot” of concepts from several Sonic games.