Minecraft movie director wants to avoid an "ugly Sonic" situation

We’re now two Sonic the Hedgehog movies deep, with a third in the works and a Knuckles TV series coming as well. Things are going quite well for Sonic in Hollywood, making it easy to forget just how bumpy the road was when Sonic’s cinematic efforts kicked off.

Countless things have riled up the internet over the years, but Sonic’s silver screen debut might have been one of the worst. The first trailer for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie revealed a design for Sonic that both angered and horrified fans, so much so that poking fun at Sonic became part of the zeitgeist for awhile. It also led to the film’s trailer being one of the most disliked on YouTube, which isn’t exactly how you want to kick off a film’s promotional tour.

The backlash was so loud and strong that the powers that be took Sonic back to the drawing board for a redesign, which resulted in a style that fans found much more pleasing. That design is the one the movies continue to roll with now, so I guess all’s well that ends well. Still, going down that path is one any movie director would want to avoid, and that includes Jared Hess.

Hess is the next director to tackle a game-to-movie adaptation, as he’s helming the upcoming Minecraft film. In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Hess had one clear goal for the Minecraft movie; he doesn’t want to end up in a Sonic-like situation.