It’s becoming increasingly clear that the pandemic has cleaved the theatrical industry in two, with the gulf between big budget franchise blockbusters and lower-budgeted fare fast turning into a chasm, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is the latest IP project to win big at the box office.
After exploding out of the blocks with a strong Thursday preview showing, the video game adaptation is on its way to a first weekend in the $67-69 million range, although it may even be able to burst through the $70 million barrier by the time the final numbers are crunched on Monday morning.
That’s higher than the $58 million three-day of the first installment, which will always live on in infamy as the last major studio film to do a solid turn on the big screen before COVID came along. Reviews have been equally strong the second time around, and when you add that onto the additional fan service that comes with throwing Tails, Knuckles, and Jim Carrey’s much more game-accurate Robotnik into the mix, you can see why Sonic 2 is proving so popular.
It took over three months after the release of the opener for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to be officially entered into development, but we’d be very surprised if it took anywhere near that long for the inevitable third chapter to get a green light from Paramount.
With spinoffs already in the works, the blue speedster is poised to be a huge part of the studio’s future in both cinemas and on streaming.