The Sonic The Hedgehog film has had plenty of publicity around its production. Originally, fans were shocked by the appearance of Sonic as he looked scary rather than friendly. After a delay in the release of the film, Sonic looked much more like himself, yet concept art from 2018 shows Sonic looking different alongside a very familiar face. The artist is said to have worked with the Sonic film's director Jeff Fowler in 2018.
The Sonic movie appears to be a commercial success and many fans have enjoyed seeing the character interact with the real-world. While the cast of James Marsden, Jim Carrey, and Ben Schwartz have pleased moviegoers, some may question the potential reach of the film if a different actor had been chosen after seeing the early concept art.
The image shows Chris Evans and Sonic in a bar brawl. Sonic the Hedgehog is wearing an uncharacteristic plaid shirt in this image as chaos descends. While it hasn't been confirmed that Chris Evans was attached to the project, this image may have been used to sway producers and give them an idea of the casting decisions they would like made. Interestingly, James Marsden and Chris Evans were both up for the role of Captain America and the two actors often take similar parts.
The successful Sonic film has gone through a fair few development changes and while all films require a certain amount of pragmatic action it is rare that audiences can see so much of these changes. In fact, many are just as interested in the process of getting Sonic's appearance correct as they are about the narrative of the film. It has certainly been an odd journey for the film and for many it would be fascinating to see the many ideas that were scrapped in the process of getting this movie to audiences.
There is plenty of conjecture about what the Sonic franchise will do moving forward, but for now many will be intrigued by what has happened behind the scenes. The film has attracted a lot of attention and managed to turn disappointment into success which in itself an impressive feat. Whether the addition of Chris Evans would have helped the film is a mystery, but many will be happy that they got a movie which had Sonic looking like he should and that was an enjoyable watch.
Sonic the Hedgehog is now playing in theaters.