An animator who worked on the
Sonic the Hedgehog movie recently spoke out about how the crew were treated behind the scenes during the redesign process. If you're unfamiliar, the first trailer for
Sonic the Hedgehog was met with immense backlash due to the titular character's realistic design. The film was delayed so that the studio could rework the design.
Thankfully, the redesign turned out great. However, there were concerns about how the animation department were treated — many speculating that they may have been overworked. This was not the case, however. As was recently revealed by one of the animators, the team were given a comfortable and ample amount of time to work on the redesign.
Max Schneider explained (via
Gamefragger) that Paramount Pictures themselves were the ones who pushed for the initial, creepy, realistic design despite expecting fans to not be fond of it. The studio simply didn't expect much backlash for it, believing that the general public wouldn't be too fussed.
“To modify everything took many months, since a big part of the movie was already finished. And the process was basically to redesign the model, make a new rig and going back to animate everything with the character. Some things were rescued from the old animations, but others had to practically be animated again," explained Schneider.
Schneider revealed that they worked on the titular character's redesign from the top to the bottom — that is to literally say from Sonic's head to his iconic, red shoes. Despite taking five months, according to the animator, it didn't cost all too much. This lines up with previous reports that claimed it only cost around $5 million.
Based on the global blockbuster videogame franchise from Sega, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG tells the story of the world’s speediest hedgehog as he embraces his new home on Earth. In this live-action adventure comedy, Sonic and his new best friend Tom (James Marsden) team up to defend the planet from the evil genius Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and his plans for world domination. The family-friendly film also stars Tika Sumpter and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic.
Sonic the Hedgehog speeds into theatres on February 14th, 2020.