There was no other outcome besides Sonic the Hedgehog 2 flattening the competition at the box office this weekend, but the video game adaptation has only gone and landed one of the biggest openings of the pandemic era.
The latest estimates have the all-ages sequel debuting to $71 million, which is roughly on a par with what the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Eternals brought in last November. Only Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Batman, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Black Widow, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings managed to earn more in their first three days in theaters, which is an incredible accomplishment.
On top of landing the highest first-frame haul of any non-comic book blockbuster since the beginning of 2020, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has set a record for the top-grossing opening weekend of any console-to-screen translation ever made, while it’s also the most commercially successful opening for any movie featuring Jim Carrey.
Reviews from critics have been solid, while the fan reactions have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic, creating a near-perfect storm for the SEGA icon to come roaring out of the blocks. When you factor in the rapidly-rising international revenues, we’d be confident in saying the green light for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 won’t be all that far away.
Of course, such a clear winner always results in a casualty or two, with Michael Bay’s Ambulance bombing after scraping together just $8 million. Morbius nosedived by almost 75%, too, and it looks as though the Living Vampire is already beginning to run out of gas after just 10 days on the big screen.