'Sonic The Hedgehog' Getting A Live-Action Hybrid Movie At Sony Pictures

You remember Sonic the Hedgehog, right? The speedster was one of SEGA's cash cows when the 16-bit video game system arrived, and he's enjoyed a legacy of video games since then. However, the blue blur has come under hard times in recent years, with last year's title Sonic Boom being the worst-selling game in the franchise.

So how can Sonic be saved? SEGA hopes that a live-action hybrid Sonic the Hedgehog movie will do the trick, and they have just such a project set up at Sony Pictures. Find out more below.

The news was announced by SEGA CEO Hajime Satomi while speaking with The Worldfolio (via Engadget):

Sega Sammy Group is currently planning with Sony Pictures to create a live-action and animation hybrid 'Sonic the Hedgehog' movie scheduled for release in 2018. Like with this CG animation production, we would like to expand our business into other entertainment areas beyond what we are currently involved.

This won't be the first time Sonic has been taken out of his video game element. At the height of the character's popularity in the '90s, Sonic the Hedgehog was given his own animated series, where he had an explicable love for chili dogs that wasn't in the video game series. There was also an original animated project that was released overseas as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, with terrible voice acting but decent animation.  More recently, despite the lack of success of the Sonic Boom video game title, a computer animated series inspired by the game has become popular and already has a second season on the way.

However, none of these projects are anywhere near what the SEGA CEO is talking about. An animated live-action hybrid doesn't sound like what Sonic the Hedgehog needs for his next big screen adventure. Sonic works best when he's among characters like him, not with humans. In catching myself up on the recent history of Sonic the Hedgehog, I learned that there exists this horrifying plot from a 2006 game where Sonic dies and is resurrected by the kiss of a human girl:

A live-action animated hybrid makes me feel like we're going to get something akin to Garfield: The Movie or the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise. The only way I think this kind of style could be acceptable is if no humans were involved. It would actually be kind of cool to see live-action shots used in conjunction with animated characters. So if that's something SEGA is considering, then that's fine. But if there are plans to have any real-life humans in the world of Sonic the Hedgehog, then I'll pass.

This sounds like SEGA's desperate attempt to drum up interest in Sonic the Hedgehog again. A movie isn't a bad idea, but this is probably not the best way to do it. But it's clearly early in development for now, so maybe this will turn out to be something good for Sonic. But considering that plenty have noticed the decline in quality regarding products with Sonic's name on them, our expectations are pretty low.