Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Jeff Fowler’s 2022 film brings Robotnik back with Knuckles beside him and gives Sonic a partner for the first time in Tails. It runs on two tracks: the road trip Sonic and Tails take after the emerald, and the Hawaii wedding comedy Tom and Maddie are pulled into, cut off from the main event for a long stretch. The shoot split the same way, Vancouver from 15 March to 12 May 2021, Hawaii finishing 25 June. Anyone who plays the games will recognise exactly one voice: Colleen O’Shaughnessey, the only member of the game cast to carry a role into the films, who appeared in the first film’s post credits scene and is a lead here. Sonic and Knuckles went to other actors, Ben Schwartz and Idris Elba. With Japan’s Marza Animation Planet producing, it is a Japan and United States co-production. The story does not close. A mid credits scene gives Shadow the Hedgehog a live action debut without a line, and Knuckles got his own Paramount+ series on 26 April 2024. The 72.1 million dollar opening beat the first film’s 58 million. A good fit if it matters that Tails sounds exactly as he does in the games. Not for a viewer who wants one self-contained story, since the ending is built around a wordless Shadow tease.