Just after a month after its premiere, Sonic the Hedgehog is officially the most successful video game movie in history. In the United States, at least.
At the time of writing, Sonic reeled in a staggering US$145.8 million in the US box office, only just ousting 2019’s Detective Pikachu, which reaped US$144.1 million. Globally, it’s a different story, as Sonic made only US$306.5 million – significantly less compared to Detective Pikachu‘s US$433 million.
To date, 2016’s Warcraft is still the highest-grossing video game movie ever to be made, making a massive US$439 million worldwide, despite flopping in US cinemas, grossing just US$47.4 million. This makes Detective Pikachu second, with 2018’s Rampage starring Dwayne Johnson coming in third (US$428 million), and 2010’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time starring Jake Gyllenhaal not far behind (US$391.7 million).
However, there is one major talking point to note, and that is the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus has no doubt been a speedbump to many current and upcoming movies, as theatres across many countries including China, Italy and France have been closing down to contain the spread. As such, box office numbers for Sonic worldwide have not been good, unfortunately. But had COVID-19 not existed, we’re confident that it could easily have raced to the top in no time.
In any case, there’s still much to celebrate as the superb animation team and Jim Carrey’s outstanding performance as Dr. Ivo Robotnik have both contributed to Sonic the Hedgehog‘s commercial success.
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.
Natalie
Trinity Sun
