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'Sonic The Hedgehog' Zooms Ahead At Box Office — A Surprise To Some

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The movie "Sonic The Hedgehog" set a record at the box office this weekend. That surprised industry observers and even the film's own studio. NPR's Bob Mondello has details.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Sonic, a blue hedgehog from outer space, took home about $70 million in his first four days in theaters, a happy ending to a story that did not look happy when the first trailer arrived.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG")

BEN SCHWARTZ: (As Sonic) I'm Sonic, a little ball of super energy in an extremely handsome package.

MONDELLO: Fans of the video game let it be known last year that they thought the package wasn't handsome enough, and the filmmakers listened.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG")

JIM CARREY: (As Dr. Ivo Robotnik) I was not expecting that, but I was expecting not to expect something, so it doesn't count.

MONDELLO: The digital creature now has bigger eyes, shorter legs, teeth that aren't quite so alarming and box office bragging rights - the biggest North American opening for a video game film ever.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG")

SCHWARTZ: (As Sonic) I am living my best life on Earth.

MONDELLO: Highest grossing video game film is, let's note, a relatively low bar. Movies based on video games don't generally do all that well at the box office, apart from the "Resident Evil" and "Tomb Raider" franchises. But Paramount needed a hit, so it pushed back the "Sonic The Hedgehog" opening from last November to this weekend and spent a few million dollars on a digital facelift that would get the game's fans back on board.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG")

CARREY: (As Dr. Ivo Robotnik) The time for talking is over. It's time to push buttons.

MONDELLO: The ploy worked better than expected. Paramount's estimate on Friday was that "Sonic" might come close to the three-day start of "Pokemon Detective Pikachu." Instead, the digital hedgehog zoomed past that film's $54 million opening - welcome news for a studio that's coming off a string of big-budget flops. Late last year, Paramount released "Terminator: Dark Fate" and Will Smith's "Gemini Man," each of which cost well over a hundred million dollars and failed to earn back its production and promotions costs.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG")

SCHWARTZ: (As Sonic) That's not good. Don't worry. I know exactly what to do.

MONDELLO: The "Sonic" boom should help Paramount weather the next few months until Tom Cruise can provide some guaranteed cash flow this summer with "Top Gun: Maverick." I'm Bob Mondello.

(SOUNDBITE OF HAROLD FALTERMEYER'S "TOP GUN ANTHEM") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.