Sonic Live Action Movie Thread (Read OP for topic rules) "Trailer 2 on Page 482)

[Sonic Fan J]

1 hour ago, Jack the Shadow said:

what if fans have been paid to say bad things?

I'd like to know where I sign up to receive my pay for my negative opinions as I can always use a extra buck or two 

Jokes aside, all this talk about leaning more towards humor seems kind of disconcerting since supposedly the movie had taken on a more action flavor after some of the changes that occurred with the license going from Sony to Paramount. I also do not personally like the idea of the movie having to be comedic to work just because "blue anthropomorphic hedgehog go fast". I keep being told not expect the lowest common denominator yet those are the general fears expressed by even the most positive fans of what has been revealed so far (officially or otherwise).

Now I understand why some would believe that the only way one can sell a live action Sonic movie is to lean hard into self depreciation of the subject matter in a hope to get the audience to laugh along, but I for one am tired of the franchise trying to be a straight up comedy and laughing at itself. I remember when Sonic was a cool teenager who took grade school aged kids on adventures to fantastical new places every game with the self confidence to do anything and urging for others to have the same for themselves. It's why I never minded Sonic being philosophical during the Adventure through Unleashed years as it still held the same message and adventures as I grew up with and he still took me to fantastical locals. Then he went full on snark and smarmy without any care for anything becoming what felt like a disillusioned comedian just going through the motions. The whiplash was tremendous to say the least and I would prefer for this movie to have the heart it's supposed to and show Sonic in a more self caring light again. It's fine to be playful with the concept to an extent and I agree that it is expected, but I don't want to se the franchise diving deeper into the hole of it all being joke so no reason to care or put any heart into it. It's part of why I don't like the idea of Sonic being in need as Sonic has always been the one to hold out a hand to others and invite them on an adventure to find their self confidence and worth. Looking at it like that it juts eats me up seeing Sonic not caring in recent media and in the case of the movie needing a "friend" just worries me that the jerk with a heart of gold and love of adventure will turn into a caricature of his Archie version at its worst.

[SaturnWolf]

If that "fans have been paid to say bad things" question is serious, completely unironic, then I'd like to know when my paycheck is coming in the mail.

[Wraith]

He said that was a joke from the jump unless he just edited the 'JK' in and I missed it.

[Tracker_TD]

15 minutes ago, Wraith said:

He said that was a joke from the jump unless he just edited the 'JK' in and I missed it.

I think if the JK was there from the start, me or Fan J (who made our posts at the same time, I assume J started theirs in advance of mine given how long it is) probably would've caught it. That said I imagine a mod has access to the edit history to determine whether I earn an L on this one. 

That said, given the way in which he's gone about decrying people annoyed at both this and TSR I don't exactly buy that the "JK!" is sincere in the first place.

[Scritch the Cat]

5 hours ago, PeterPancake said:

Carrey is probably going to ham it up. But I hope they play it off in a way where he comes off highly deranged and unpredictable like the Joker. That's what makes him scary 

I second that.  Jim Carrey as Robotnik is oddly both one of the few things that seem like it could be a smart choice in this movie, and one of the rare times I'm not inherently turned off by his involvement.  I don't think he's all that capable of toning his madcap act down, but hopefully he can inject it with rage, sadism and whimsy for this role.

Worth noting is that I've never seen Batman Forever, so I don't have a good demo of that.

[LongcrierCat]

6 hours ago, Tracker_TD said:

Unless you genuinely expect Tim Miller to pop up in an interview and say “yeah, we completely missed the point of Sonic”, in which case christ.

I'm not really sure if most people completely miss the point of Sonic entirely? 

I mean the series is about a blue hedgehog that can use his abilities to pinball and go really fast and really loves freedom and fights an egg shaped scientist who builds robots and doesn't really care about people's autonomy all that much. 

It's a really simple concept and to be honest, I don't see how they've misrepresented that in this movie just yet? To be fair, him teaming up with a cop sounds... weird, but okay. Maybe this is a deconstruction of buddy cop movies, maybe. I don't know. That's just a weird idea I'm throwing out. 

We don't really have a strong plot synopsis and it could even be out of date. And even then, the U.S. government working to catch Sonic sounds like Robotnik pulled strings which sounds perfectly in character. Especially these days. Because guess what, media isn't created in a vacuum and the culture of a thing created in a time will reflect that mindset of that time regardless of if it was a passion project or very clearly a product made to be hip with the kids. 

I'm not saying let's not be down on the capitalist thing this is but damn. We can be patient to see if this thing deserves half the shit it's getting, right? 

[Celestia]

4 hours ago, Tracker_TD said:

I think if the JK was there from the start, me or Fan J (who made our posts at the same time, I assume J started theirs in advance of mine given how long it is) probably would've caught it. That said I imagine a mod has access to the edit history to determine whether I earn an L on this one. 

There was no edit. Edit history shows nothing and I even saw that post earlier, long before the replies, and the JK was already there, lol.

It was a joke. A bad one, but still.

[Tornado]

Okay. The next person who seriously talks about the people being paid to make the fucking movie saying that it will be good and full of passion will be the one who gets the credit for this thread being locked this time until there's actually something to talk about; because I can't in good consciousness let that kind of stupid get out into the wild and breed. I'll put it in the OP and everything.

 

 

For fuck's sake, you guys arguing that want to go through interviews for shitshows like Rise of Lyric or STH '06 and see people paid to make those games talk about how great they are going to be while you're at it?

[LongcrierCat]

Hey, it beats having the same argument about how the filmmakers missed the point of Sonic for the umpteenth time. I mean no, this product likely won't have love and passion going into it knowing most of the film industry. But also that doesn't out rule that.  I mean, this wouldn't be the first videogame movie where the team was really into it and wanted it to do really well if Duncan Jones' Warcraft has anything to say. 

Some people can be really excited to work on a product for a franchise they've possibly loved since they were kids. I'm only saying. 

I mean, I expect this to be average. I've been here to see all of the Transformers movies and Turtles movies. Yeah, a good lot of them are average. But it shouldn't discredit that things in films have changed drastically in this decade of film alone. 

I don't know what to expect here because while there'd be ideas of what it could be like, those things have possibly evolved some. I'm more just wondering how bad this could be or if it could shock us all and dare to be good instead. I mean, I certainly never expected The Lego Movie to be good and that spawned a series of mostly strong films. 

You never know. But also know that maybe we should all be a bit less at each other's throats seeing that be kind of a thing. Things have been admittedly overwhelmingly hostile at points and I'm frankly scared about how seriously some people are taking this. 

Also, it really doesn't help to egg people on either. 

Edited March 3, 2019 by LongcrierCat
Didn't know I'd be responded to in such a way. Wow.

[Sonic Fan J]

The movie turning out enjoyable to me would be a surprise that I wouldn't mind considering my reservations which I've gone into enough detail already in this thread. As it stands now though, there has been way to much random talk about this movie and no PR control to create a cohesive advertising campaign to control the flow of information and build hype. Instead we've gotten scraps of random info which has mostly turned out to be true, even when hoped against, and a poster that most didn't like then sudden silence again outside of some undesired self deprecation. If this movie has so much love and passion going into than someone really needs to share that with marketing and get them on board because at the very least PR and marketing don't seem to care about this movie at all and that could kill faster than any amount of negative fan feedback just by failing to create awareness and hope. Sure it's nine months out, but Sonic is a video game character from an industry where hype building can start years in advance of the product being released. In short, the moment they showed us that poster (heading on four months ago now) they needed to be all in creating hype even if it was just a slow trickle. Instead they seemed to panic at the backlash from all across the board and tucked into their shell hiding behind some weak self depreciating humor.

TLDR; This movie really needs the marketing department to catch the passion bug the rest of the affiliated parties seem to have and actually put together a marketing campaign. A couple of posters released almost a third of a year ago and then nothing is not really a good start and this movie is more likely to end up DOA due to the marketing department than anything else.

[Tornado]

39 minutes ago, LongcrierCat said:

Hey, it beats having the same argument about how the filmmakers missed the point of Sonic for the umpteenth time.

No it doesn't. There's no reason for this thread to be a zero sum game, where every time a moderator tells people to knock it off a collective decision is made to change what obviously stupid point they want to argue over the movie for half a dozen pages over; to the extent that now people being paid to make the movie saying that there's passion and care is being argued as proof that the quality could be there in the end. I know of an interview for STH '06 two weeks before it came out, talking up how great it was going to be and how exciting everyone will be to play with all of the innovative things that put in it and how the awesome use of the licenced Havok physics engine was going to cause all new types of Sonic gameplay.

 

 

I'll repeat this point, in case someone still wants to use people being paid to make the movie as an unbiased source of the movie's potential quality and the inherent problem hasn't sunk in yet:

Two weeks before release, the game's producer talked about how great STH '06 would be.  

Keep in mind Naka abandoned ship in early May of 2006. This interview was at the end of October. So 6 months after it would have been clear to everyone making the thing how doomed it actually was. After the game had already gone gold and been produced for shipment, even. That's when that very passionate creator with a close relationship to Sonic conducted an interview where every answer was a bald faced lie.

 

 

 

That's the reality for why people are so at a loss for words for that argument.

[MrPolynomialX]

[Zaysho]

16 minutes ago, MrPolynomialX said:

I don't get the point of this, but no drive-by image-only posts unless you're looking to help this thread along to its second closure.

[MrPolynomialX]

53 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

I don't get the point of this, but no drive-by image-only posts unless you're looking to help this thread along to its second closure.

Of course you don't.

It shows that the crew is excited/enthusiastic about whatever was created.

[PeterPancake]

1 hour ago, Zaysho said:

I don't get the point of this, but no drive-by image-only posts unless you're looking to help this thread along to its second closure.

Forgive me for not completely understanding, but why is movie fanart  banned? I mean, it's still related to the movie. It still falls within the realm of speculation so how come the mods have restricted it?

[Zaysho]

27 minutes ago, MrPolynomialX said:

Of course you don't.

It shows that the crew is excited/enthusiastic about whatever was created.

I'm being a lot more generous considering a moderator JUST ABOVE YOU (here and here) said this isn't an argument. "Whoo-hoo, guy who works on the movie says he's excited." And?

Don't answer that, because I don't care.

The next response that's pointing to BASIC PR as proof that this movie will be good is getting locked, no questions asked and if I see another snide remark like this it'll be followed by further staff action.

 

15 minutes ago, PeterPancake said:

Forgive me for not completely understanding, but why is movie fanart  banned? I mean, it's still related to the movie. It still falls within the realm of speculation so how come the mods have restricted it?

I don't think we have a ban per se, but we had one member who was kind of just using this thread for posting his own art so we suggested they make their own showcase thread.

[CaptainRobo]

55 minutes ago, PeterPancake said:

Forgive me for not completely understanding, but why is movie fanart  banned? I mean, it's still related to the movie. It still falls within the realm of speculation so how come the mods have restricted it?

 

40 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

I don't think we have a ban per se, but we had one member who was kind of just using this thread for posting his own art so we suggested they make their own showcase thread.

Yea, sorry,  it's because that they want to make this thread more of a discussion rather than an art gallery. So, I had to make my own thread in the showcase where, I can posted my art. Feel free to look around there and leave a comment, if you want.:

 

[KHCast]

How long is it usually between a films first trailer and release? Cause the fact were only a few months out and there’s no trailer or even teaser trailer is a bit weird tbh

[Sonicfan7]

We're 8 months way. It's normal that we don't get anything until the Spring. If we go through May and Avengers: Endgame and Detective Pikachu go by without a Sonic trailer attached to either of them then it's time to start bringing out the red flags IMO. 

[Rabid-Coot]

The SXSW panel is under 2 weeks away if nothing is shown before/during that they will at least have to mention something even if it is just to shut down questions in the Q&A.

[Red Hot Jack]

13 hours ago, Tracker_TD said:

I think if the JK was there from the start, me or Fan J (who made our posts at the same time, I assume J started theirs in advance of mine given how long it is) probably would've caught it. That said I imagine a mod has access to the edit history to determine whether I earn an L on this one. 

That said, given the way in which he's gone about decrying people annoyed at both this and TSR I don't exactly buy that the "JK!" is sincere in the first place.

I can't joke, guys XD

I already said that I understand people's attitude about recent Sonic stuff. I'm not attacking anyone for being negative, believe it or not but I try my best to stay nice, even though negativity makes me stress, if the movie is truly bad I'm just gonna leave the forum and leave you guys alone, there is no point in defending what's bad but I'd rather leave than stay in the negativity which I can't handle. It's not healthy for me, I have enough problems. I'm also no longer defending TSR as you can see. I'm just hoping the movie is good.

Sorry for OT. I wanted to clarify my stance. At this point I would not mind if the thread got locked again since we just keep arguing.

[Dr Ryan]

Lol this topic is fucking mess! Bizarre speculation and hate when literally all we have to go on are two teaser posters, an IGN article and some set photos of Green Hills. Isn't this a road trip movie? Meaning that presumably Green Hills makes up a tiny part of it? Most sets for this seem to be kept very secretive. I mean... Let's be honest none of us know anything about it really. We have literally seen basically nothing yet. All we do know is that it has a fantastic cast and crew with a proven track record (albeit an inexperienced director).

No reason to hate yet!

In fact, maybe even 'Hunk Sonic' might not look too weird in the movie. If you look at what they're presumably using for an eyeline when talking him in the set photos he's friggin' tiny (the kinda height you would expect him to be).

[Rabid-Coot]

I would guess 1 third small town, one third road trip and one third in the city roughly.

[Tracker_TD]

39 minutes ago, Dr Ryan said:

No reason to hate yet!

If there’s no reason to hate it yet, there’s no reason to be optimistic either. Particularly when the track records of those involved aren’t actually too glamorous (I believe @Bobnik elaborated on this at some point) and from the design, synopsis and interviews alone it’s clear they don’t exactly have a good grasp on Sonic. 

There’s plenty of reasoning in this thread as to why people aren’t optimistic for the movie. All you have to do is actually read it instead of branding it a mess because you’re optimistic based on supposedly just as little.

[Tornado]

26 minutes ago, Tracker_TD said:

If there’s no reason to hate it yet, there’s no reason to be optimistic either

Let's rephrase this a bit. People don't need a huge set in stone reason to be optimistic about something they want to see. People do need a better defined reason to shout anything down, be it excessive pessimism or optimism.