Paramount Pictures’ Sonic the Hedgehog film is already breaking box office records. With approximately $57 million earned at the domestic box office, Sonic the Hedgehog now has the biggest opening weekend for a video game film in North America. This record-breaking feat means Sonic’s big screen outing overtook Detective Pikachu, which last year earned just over $54 million domestically in its opening weekend.
The speedy character brought in quite the haul overseas, too, amassing more than $43 million across 40 markets. That brings the film’s international cume to an impressive grand total of $100 million in its first weekend alone. Technically, in the States at least, the weekend isn’t over just yet. President’s Day means Sonic the Hedgehog is bound to make an even bigger splash with the three-day weekend. In fact, Paramount’s latest is projected to clean up a four-day gross of $70 million at the US box office, according to estimates via The Hollywood Reporter.
These numbers suggest Sonic could be well on its way to reaching the heights of Detective Pikachu all around. When its box office run came to an end, Detective Pikachu earned $144.1 million in the United States and Canada combined. Internationally, the Rob Letterman-directed film brought in a worldwide total of approximately $433 million.
The future may very well be brought for video game adaptations. Seemingly, the Mortal Kombat reboot counts as the medium’s next big outing. It’s slated to hit theaters early next year on January 15, 2021, nearly two months ahead of its original release date. The long-in-development Uncharted adaptation starring Tom Holland will supposedly release not too long thereafter on March 5th. This is despite a director not yet being on board, though recent reports claim Sony is closely eyeing Ruben Fleischer of Venom and Zombieland fame.
Sonic the Hedgehog is now in theaters worldwide.
[Source: The Hollywood Reporter, GamesIndustry.biz]
