With nearly $60 million in its three-day opening weekend, Sonic The Hedgehog has cruised to a record debut for a movie adapted from the video game. Sonic The Hedgehog's three-day totals closed at $57 million and its four-day opening projection, to account for the long weekend in the states, sits at $68 million.
The three-day total puts Sonic ahead of the ever-present Pokemon which held the previous record for bets opening weekend sales with last year's Detective Pikachu and its debut of $54.3 million.
There are more than a few factors to consider when judging how Sonic fared so well. Most infamously, the titular hero's original computer-generated design was, according to many online, awesomely terrible. The early version of Sonic became such a meme that it led the animation studio to head back to work and rebuild the character, which not only cost an untold fortune, but led to the studio eventually closing down.
Other factors that led to the movie debuting so strongly can be safely assumed. For one, it is a long weekend. President's Day is today and many more people will catch the movie in addition to the many that already have. Also, quite simply, it's Sonic. Far from the hero's best years, the IP remains instantly recognizable by adults and children. It's a staying power few properties have maintained alongside Sonic over the past 30-plus years.
It also helps that the movie broke out to strong review scores. When Rotten Tomatoes first shared its Tomatometer score from roughly four dozen critics, Sonic had started strong with a 70% favorability score. Its since deflated a little bit, now done to a 63%, but it's still on the right side of the outlet's line in the digital sand that determines which movies get the whole tomato icon and which get squished and labeled "rotten."
Other factors like the cast played their parts too, and Jim Carrey as Eggman is certainly an intriguing choice if nothing else. It was even Valentine's Day weekend, though maybe Sonic isn't the ideal date night movie.
