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This article is about the scrapped movie treatment from 1994. For the 2020 film, see Sonic the Hedgehog (film). For the 1996 OVA, see Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.

Sonic: The Movie^[1] is an unreleased live-action^[1] film adaptation of the Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise, intended to be produced by Trilogy Entertainment Group and MGM. A rough story treatment of the film was written by Pen Densham and Richard B. Lewis, and submitted to Sega in late 1994. Negative reactions to the plot presented in the treatment resulted in the movie being cancelled, and an entirely different movie Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World being pitched in response.^[2][1]

Like Wonders of the World, this movie is thought to have never reached a scripting phase. All that exists of it is the treatment, dated November 11, 1994. This makes it the first known attempt to adapt the franchise into a feature film.

Overview[]

The treatment goes for a darker tone and features some adult content (such as Jimmy, a teenager, consuming alcohol and many instances of characters dying). In particular, the treatment has great amounts of body horror regarding the mutants.

The treatment is divided into a three act structure typical of Hollywood movies. The story follows a rebellious young boy named Jimmy Hedgeman whose father was working on genetic experiments in a lab with limited funding. When Dr. Hedgeman is kidnapped by some thugs, Jimmy takes off to an island in the middle of a lake in South America to find him. Along the way, Jimmy mutates back and forth between his normal human form and the form of Sonic the Hedgehog, and he must join forces with a band of mutants on the island in order to defeat the evil Dr. Elleson.

The script has a series of notes scribbled on it by someone unknown (presumably a producer or executive). Among these notes are complaints that the antagonist should be Dr. Robotnik and that the movie version of Knuckles should be more like the canon Knuckles.

The treatment suggests that the film would have been a live action CGI hybrid (referencing the 1993 film Jurassic Park for its use of CGI puppets, and live action footage), but it is unclear how high the budget would have been.

Connections to the established games[]

It should be noted that the treatment scarcely follows the plot of the games (a common practice for Hollywood movies based on video games in the 1990s). It would perhaps be easier to list what did make it from the games into the treatment rather than attempting to list every single change.

Jimmy Hedgeman, after being accidentally mutated, transforms into Sonic the Hedgehog with excitement throughout the movie. He is a rebellious teenager like Sonic, but he starts out as a young human boy who is simply getting in trouble with law enforcement for driving too fast and underage drinking. Unlike the Sonic from the main franchise, Jimmy is incredibly nervous throughout the movie when things go wrong.

The most jarring change is perhaps the antagonist Dr. Paul Elleson who the script calls "Robotnik" only twice, once when he is introduced and again when Jimmy nicknames him Robotnik after his "cold mechanical methodology." Elleson, notably, has little to do with research into robotics and instead wishes to turn all of humanity and nature into his perceived perfect biological creatures. He is angry at the world because he was considered a freak for his lack of biological fingers (using mechanical fingers throughout the story).

The only character from the games besides Sonic and Robotnik to make it into the treatment was Knuckles the Echidna. Despite this, Knuckles is a mutant named Kentar who is described as "A giant with huge paws, walking upright with long curly dreadlocks for a mane", and he is only nicknamed Knuckles by Jimmy for "long ape-like arms that tends to drag along the ground."

Plot[]

On an uninhabited tropical island, an terrified man dashes through the dense jungle. The man is pursued by several strange snake creatures with wolf-like heads, seemingly being guided by music played by a mysterious stranger nearby. The running man inevitably trips, and is grabbed by the snakes and dragged into a pit lined with mushrooms and human skeletal remains. The man remains defiant towards the malicious stranger, who in response commands a grate in the pit to open. An ape-like creature with a second head implanted into its forehead then lunges out, seemingly devouring its defiant victim.

In an entirely different urban area, 17-year old Jimmy Hedgeman, his friend, and two teenage girl passengers speed down the street in their car. Jimmy's friend occasionally sips from his can of illicit beer. The car then hits a dip, and is momentarily tossed airborne, prompting a police officer to pull the group over for their reckless driving. Jimmy's friend attempts to hide his beer can, while Jimmy tries to think up an excuse so as not to receive a third traffic violation. The cop is sympathetic to Jimmy's pleading, and offers to let him go after checking his registration. In his haste to leave the officer, Jimmy opens the glove compartment without thinking, revealing the hidden beer. The officer takes notice, and drags Jimmy to the police station, claiming he will keep him there until his father arrives.

In his research laboratory, Jimmy's father, Dr. Hedgeman performs his government-funded experiments on the DNA of plant and animal life, hoping to unlock the mysteries of the DNA puzzle, specifically, a section of the strand that can repair and replicate itself. He deduces that plants and some hibernating animals go through a special phase where their DNA internally repairs itself. His research is interrupted by a call from Jimmy at the police station.

Jimmy and his father exit the station, and drive away in silence. Jimmy turns on the radio, but is unable to settle on a channel to listen to. Dr. Hedgeman turns it off again, frustrated with his son's recent actions. After arriving back at his lab, Dr. Hedgeman orders Jimmy to stay outside the main testing room while he continues a promising experiment. Jimmy protests, but ultimately gives in and heads to the lab's office instead. Dr. Hedgeman checks on a plant he injected with a serum earlier, and noticed that the formerly-dead plant is now alive again. Excited by the success, he begins recording the results on a tape recorder. Meanwhile, Jimmy gives a small hedgehog test subject named "squeakers" a tour of the lab to keep himself occupied. Jimmy's father then returns, and angrily tells Jimmy to stop, berating him for his immaturity, stubbornness, and overall lack of accomplishment. Jimmy retorts that his grandfather tried to make his mark on the world by breaking the sound barrier, and was killed as a result.

The fight is interrupted when Dr. Hedgeman receives a call from his boss. Jimmy leaves the lab in anger. With the fight over, three disguised individuals outside enter the lab, and make their way to Dr. Hedgeman's testing room under the claim that they are maintenance workers. Once inside, they block the room's door and unplug its phone, ignoring Dr. Hedgeman's protests. Having forgot his backpack when he left, Jimmy returns to the lab and notices the commotion, hiding in a lab cabinet to observe it. One of the thugs named "Face" reveals he is aware of Dr. Hedgeman's research, and presents an high-paying job opportunity from his boss to continue his DNA research under him. Dr. Hedgeman refuses, however, and Face pushes over Jimmy's cabinet at him in anger. Face then sprays Dr. Hedgeman with a chemical gas, causing him to pass out. While Jimmy is trapped in the cabinet, now filled with spilled liquid and glass shards from broken bottles, he notices a shard of glass, dripping with a blue liquid, and sticking into his hand. He painfully pulls it out, and experiences blurry vision and strange odors for a short period, before they mysteriously fade. All the while, Face and his two cohorts talk in a foreign language while loading Dr. Hedgeman's unconscious body into a crate, which they take out of the lab with them.

Jimmy manages to escape the cabinet, and pursues the three men, but loses them when they load the crate onto a boat. Jimmy then rushes to the police station in an attempt to report the crime, but is unable to form an understandable sentence as a result of his speech pattern mysteriously accelerating to 150mph.

This section requires an expansion.

Characters[]

• Jimmy Hedgeman: A 17-year old teenage human with a rebellious attitude, quick in both thoughts and actions. After an accident involving the DNA experiments of his father, Jimmy gradually transforms into a blue hedgehog-like creature with incredible speed. He later adopts the name "Sonic" after Amanda misinterprets the phrase "Sonic or bust!" on the back of his jacket as a statement of his real name.
• Doctor Hedgeman: A DNA researcher funded by the government, and Jimmy's single father.
• Jimmy's grandfather: A pilot who attempted to break the sound barrier, but died in the process. His jacket is worn by Jimmy.
• Face: A thug working for Dr. Paul Elleson. He has a skin condition that makes his face appear like it is melting off of his body.
• Kentar
• Dr. Paul Elleson

This section requires an expansion.

Development[]

Early stages[]

Sega first conceptualized the idea of a feature-length Sonic the Hedgehog film during production of the Sonic the Hedgehog television series in 1993. Newly-appointed consumer products director Michealene Risley, who was instrumental in green-lighting the series, was assigned to negotiate with several Hollywood producers to find support for the project. "I was basically driving the Sonic movie," Risley recalled to Kotaku in 2018, "I don’t know who came up with the idea – whether it was Tom [Kalinske, Sega of America CEO] or Shinobu [Toyoda, Sega executive vice-president and COO] or me, or we talked about it as a group – but having come from the movie world, I was always pushing those things." Tom Kalinske, however, was hesitant on the idea of a movie, recalling how 1987's Masters of the Universe damaged the namesake toy-line and how the critical and commercial failures of Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter stained the reputation of their namesake video game franchises. Kalinske noted to Kotaku that "There is really is that fear that a bad movie could potentially hurt your brand. The Sonic brand was strong enough to probably withstand it, but there is that fear."^[3] Despite Kalinske's concerns, Sega was highly enthusiastic about the project, according to Risley, "It all depends on the timing of the movie, the look of the movie, whether you go live action or animation. [The film failing] was never an issue for us."^[3] After about a year of negotiations, Sega struck a development deal in August 1994 with MGM and Trilogy Entertainment Group.^[3]

Story treatment[]

As a result of this deal, Trilogy Entertainment co-founders Pen Densham and Richard B. Lewis wrote a rough story treatment for a Sonic the Hedgehog film, which they titled "Sonic: The Movie". Accordingly, the plot as presented in the draft was intended to "introduce a new mythology to the movie-going audience" and serve as a origin story for Sonic that viewers who hadn't played any Sonic games could enjoy, while also providing a "real sense of jeopardy" similar to that of Batman and Jurassic Park. As described in the document, Sonic's appearance in the movie was planned to be a combination of animatronics, motion-capture, and CGI. The first draft of the treatment was submitted on November 11, 1994.^[1][2]

Cancellation and legacy[]

The story treatment seemingly received negative reception from MGM and Sega for its tone and incredibly loose connection to the games. As a result, the film was cancelled, and a more-accurate film adaption of the Sonic franchise was pitched as a follow-up.

The story treatment for the film remained unknown to the public for years until 2023, when the only existing physical draft known to exist was purchased from Ebay by Will from the Twitch channel "The Game Show Game". In celebration of the 4th anniversary of the Paramount Sonic the Hedgehog film, the document was presented live on February 12, 2024, and was read aloud by three guests, all of them internet personalities associated with Sonic the Hedgehog.

Trivia[]

• Hedgeman is presumably a spin on names ending in the suffix -man or -mann such as Hoffmann or Zimmermann.
• Jimmy has a fighter pilot jacket as part of a mandate from Sega at the time the treatment was written.
• Of note is that both Dr. Robotnik from the finished film by Paramount and Dr. Paul Elleson were given traumatic origin stories whereas Dr. Eggman (as he exists in the games) does not currently have a canonical explanation for wanting to conquer the world.

References[]

External Links[]

• An article about the treatment from Sonic Retro
• The VOD from Game Show Game starts about 23 minutes into the stream