Real-life athletes praise Sonic in Paramount's Sonic the Hedgehog Super Bowl 2020 trailer. The studio has typically had a presence at the annual Big Game, releasing trailers for some of its biggest films in any given year. That should once again be the case at Sunday's Super Bowl LIV, where Paramount is expected to promote A Quiet Place Part II ahead of its impending arrival in March. On the all-ages-friendly side, they've also got Sonic the Hedgehog opening in February, followed by The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run in May.
A live-action/CGI film adaptation of the video games, Sonic the Hedgehog features Ben Schwartz (DuckTales) as the voice of Sonic, along with Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik and James Marsden as Tom, an average guy who gets dragged into helping Sonic save the world from his scheming nemesis. With the blowback over Sonic's early design now behind them, Paramount is currently moving full-speed ahead into the final leg of marketing for the movie.
The studio released its Sonic the Hedgehog Super Bowl spot online this morning, ahead of its airing during the Big Game this weekend. In addition to previously-unreleased footage from the film, the preview includes clips of athletes - namely, NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, Olympic Gold Medal-winning track and field sprinter Allyson Felix, Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, and the New Orleans Saints' wide receiver Michael Thomas - praising Sonic for his speed, agility, and knowing "it's all about the rings". Take a look, below.
Like the previous trailers, this Sonic the Hedgehog Super Bowl promo keeps things light-hearted and mostly serves to highlight Sonic's rascally attitude in the film. It also continues to shine a light on the character's refurbished look, which pretty much everyone agrees is a major step-up from his initial (and unsettlingly realistic) appearance in the live-action movie. Their redesign reportedly "only" cost Paramount $5 million to do and was clearly worth every dollar spent, given the complete turnaround in the public's attitude towards the movie since then. Of course, that didn't prevent the film's VFX studio MPC Vancouver from being closed down last month.
Overall, director Jeff Fowler and writers Patrick Casey and Josh Miller seem to have made a pretty straightforward fish out of water/buddy comedy that pairs Marsden with a CGI costar. It's not the first time that's happened, either (see Hop), which begs the question of whether Sonic the Hedgehog's redesign controversy will end up being the most memorable thing about the film. (Well, that and Carrey's '90s-era mugging as Dr. Robotnik.) Sonic the Hedgehog is currently tracking for a lower box office opening than last year's Detective Pikachu, but that could change if early word of mouth is positive once the reviews start pouring in over the next two weeks.
Source: Paramount Pictures
