Gotta Go Cash
The past weekend saw Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 launch in numerous major territories, one week ahead of its North American premiere — and already, the cinematic sequel is looking to be a smashing success, having already raked in over $25 million USD box office in its first weekend on the big screen.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2, directed by Jeff Fowler and starring Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, and Jim Carrey, hit theaters in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Europe, where it has already played to very healthy houses — topping the box office charts ahead of Marvel’s vampire flick Morbius. According to Deadline, Paramount is “delighted” with The Blue Blur’s early performance, which is already 2% over the launch weekend of the original 2020 movie, like-for-like.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 sees the Sega superhero joined by his buddy Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) on a quest to uncover the legendary Chaos Emerald. Standing in their way are the villainous Dr. Robotnik (Carrey) and an enigmatic echidna known as Knuckles (Idris Elba). Critics’ reviews have been somewhat mixed but overall relatively positive, noting that the sequel features tropey, by-the-numbers storytelling but entertains with fun setpieces and dazzling visual effects.
Paramount will no doubt be rubbing its hands with glee at the thought of this weekend, when Sonic the Hedgehog 2 opens in the lucrative North American market. Studio producers have already spoken of their desire to create a “Sonic Cinematic Universe“, featuring spin-off films and TV shows, and numbers such as these are only set to fuel further encouragement of those ideas.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 premieres in North American theaters April 8.