Deadpool Director Developing Sonic the Hedgehog Movie
By Dalton Cooper 25 October 2016
Deadpool director Tim Miller joins the Sonic the Hedgehog film project as an executive producer, while Jeff Fowler from Blur Studio takes on directing duties.
After Hollywood film director Tim Miller dropped out of directing Deadpool 2 due to creative differences with star Ryan Reynolds, many were wondering what his next movie would be. After the surprise success of Deadpool (it is the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time), many expected Miller would go on to create another superhero movie, or perhaps an ultra-violent comedy in a similar style. Few would have expected Miller to join the Sonic the Hedgehog film project, but that is exactly what has happened.
Miller is collaborating with Sony Pictures to bring the Sonic the Hedgehog film to life. The movie will reportedly blend live-action and CGI animation, with a focus on being “family friendly” — quite the departure from Miller’s last film.
While Miller is intimately involved with the production of Sonic the Hedgehog as executive producer, he won’t be the one sitting in the director’s chair. Jeff Fowler from Blur Studio, who Miller has collaborated with in the past, will be making his directorial debut with the Sonic the Hedgehog film project. Further details on the project aren’t known at this time, so fans have to wait a bit longer to learn about the plot and what characters will be featured in the film.
Tim Miller’s involvement with the Sonic the Hedgehog film may seem a little strange at first glance. After all, he directed the raunchy Deadpool movie, which was full of explicit violence, nudity, and strong language, which doesn’t exactly align with the family friendly values of Sonic the Hedgehog. However, Miller actually has a history with the gaming industry, and has worked on three games in his lifetime.
Miller’s first game project was working on the visual effects for the short-lived Hellgate: London. He later served as a visual effects supervisor for the critically-acclaimed Mass Effect 2 in 2010. In 2011, Miller collaborated with BioWare again, this time as a visual effects supervisor for the popular MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. Knowing Miller’s past with the video game industry, his choice to executive produce Sonic the Hedgehog makes more sense.
Perhaps Miller’s knowledge of gaming will help Sonic the Hedgehog be more successful than most video game movies. While 2016 saw a number of high profile game-to-film adaptations hit the silver screen, most of them bombed commercially and with critics, like the Ratchet & Clank movie, for example. It’s clear that the stigma of all video game movies being bad has not yet been overcome, but maybe with Tim Miller’s involvement Sonic the Hedgehog will be the first truly great video game movie.
Sonic the Hedgehog will premiere in theaters in 2018.
Source: Game Informer
