Gotta Go Later: Sonic The Hedgehog Movie Receives A Delay

Sonic's design in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie came under a lot of scrutiny from fans when the film's trailer dropped last month; so much, in fact, that the film's director promised a full redesign of the character. Now it appears that redesign will keep the movie from hitting its target release date, leaving our best-laid holiday plans in the dust.

GameSpot is reporting that the film, which was originally scheduled to release in November of this year, is being delayed until Feb. 14, 2020. And it has everything to do with "taking a little more time to make Sonic just right," according to Sonic the Hedgehog's director, Jeff Fowler. 

We honestly should have seen this coming. It may not seem like much to create a brand new Sonic model, and you may even think it trivial to get all of Sonic's new animations in place. But there's also the reality of having Sonic in the majority of the movie, sharing scenes with other characters. The process isn't as simple as dragging and dropping a new Sonic into the old one's place, as the team behind the film also has to ensure things don't look out of whack when that occurs.

That's going to take some time; around three extra months, to be exact.

Now the big question is, with Sonic the Hedgehog moving into next year, will the world be without a blockbuster holiday release?

In all seriousness, we're happy that the Sonic film isn't being rushed out. Detective Pikachu aside, video game movies have a bit of a bad reputation, and racing to get Sonic the Hedgehog out the door might not have helped the cause. Now the virtual effects team has more time to ensure Sonic looks more like the video game version we all know and love and less like someone wearing a Sonic Halloween costume.

Judging by the trailer, the movie may still end up being a little too cheesy for its own good. But that doesn't mean it won't be fun to watch anyway, so we'll be anxiously awaiting the unveil of Sonic's new design and, later, the release of the movie itself.

Sonic the Hedgehog hits theaters on Feb. 14, 2020.