'Sonic the Hedgehog' Live-Action Movie With Ex-'Deadpool' Director Tim Miller Proceeds on Paramount

By Rachel Cruz, Christian Post Contributor Wednesday, October 04, 2017

The popular Sega video game franchise "Sonic the Hedgehog" will forge ahead with its live-action treatment from Paramount. The studio will retain former "Deadpool" director Tim Miller to help put the film together.

Miller, however, won't be helming the "Sonic the Hedgehog" live-action flick. He will instead serve as executive producer while Jeff Fowler will make his directorial debut.

Supporting Miller and Fowler in this project is Neal H. Moritz, who is also executive producer. Toby Ascher, Dmitri Johnson, and Dan Jevons are attached to the film production as well.

The movie won't be purely live-action as some elements will have CGI animation. It will be the first live-action treatment for the popular video game.

"Jeff is an incredible director with strong story instincts," Miller said when the project first came to light. "The world of Sonic presents the perfect opportunity for Jeff to leverage his experience in animation to bring new dimension to this iconic character."

Sega launched the character of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991. In its early versions as a 16-bit video game, Sonic ran around to collect rings and evade the villain, Dr. Edman, as with any typical arcade game.

The franchise, however, developed more games that offered backstories to the characters, thus creating a mythology to Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega then tied up with Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014 for the film development in its bid to expand its entertainment brand.

Sony passed the rights to Paramount three years later. The latter retained most of the people involved in the making of the movie.

Video gamers are usually not big fans of iconic gaming characters becoming Hollywood film fodders and it remains to be seen how much support the "Sonic the Hedgehog" live-action movie will get. Miller and company haven't divulged any clue to the storyline but more details, including cast announcements, are expected to follow.

"Sonic the Hedgehog" live-action film has a 2019 theater release date.