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Paramount Picks Up Sonic the Hedgehog Film Rights
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Entertainment news source The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Monday that Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to develop a film for Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Neal Moritz (Fast & Furious franchise) remains attached to the project as executive producer alongside Tim Miller (Deadpool) and Toby Ascher, and Jeff Fowler would direct. Dmitri Johnson and Dan Jevons are co-producing the project.
The film project first emerged in 2014 as a hybrid computer-animated and live-action feature film project by Sony and Marza Animation Planet, which cited Moritz as producer. In February 2016, Sega Sammy Holdings president and CEO Hajime Satomi revealed that Sony Pictures Entertainment was planning the film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony has since put the project "in turnaround" — an industry term for describing a studio ending a project's development and thus allowing another studio to pick up the rights.
The CG-animated Sonic Boom series, produced by France's OuiDo! Productions, premiered on Cartoon Network in 2014 and was accompanied by two new games: Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for Nintendo 3DS. Another 3DS game, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice shipped in September 2016.
Sega released an original video animation (OVA) titled Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie in 1996. ADV Films released it on DVD and VHS.
The latest game release in the franchise is Sonic Mania, which shipped on August 15 in the West, and August 16 in Japan. The game launched for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The franchise is also getting the Sonic Forces game for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on November 7 in North America, and November 9 in Japan.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter (Borys Kit), Entertainment Weekly (Derek Lawrence)
Update: Typo fixed. Thanks, Snomaster1
