Right now, the highest-grossing video game movie at the domestic box office is Detective Pikachu, which grossed $144.1 million in the United States by the end of its run. However, it seems as though Sonic the Hedgehog is about to break that record.
Sonic the Hedgehog has grossed $143.2 million at the domestic box office as of March 12, and while the weekend box office results have yet to be announced, it's basically guaranteed to have past that total by tomorrow. As far as the worldwide box office, Sonic the Hedgehog is sitting at $302.7 million versus the $433 million that the Detective Pikachu movie pulled in worldwide.
While Sonic the Hedgehog has Detective Pikachu beat at the domestic box office, it seems unlikely that the film will be able to overtake Detective Pikachu's overall gross, and that is for a variety of reasons. One reason is that Sonic the Hedgehog has been in theaters for about a month now, meaning that its highest-grossing days are well behind it. Another reason is due to the coronavirus global pandemic, which is unsurprisingly seeing less people go to movie theaters.
Then again, the coronavirus could have an opposite effect and actually boost Sonic the Hedgehog's box office total. This is because major films have been delayed due to the coronavirus threat, with the likes of A Quiet Place 2 delayed and F9 pushed back an entire year. While it's certainly possible that movie theaters will close up shop until the coronavirus threat is over, those that remain open will simply have to play the movies that they already have, which includes Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic the Hedgehog's runaway success can likely be attributed to a couple of different things. Sonic the Hedgehog movie reviews were mostly positive, with the film earning a "fresh" Rotten Tomatoes score. The film also gained a lot of attention for its rather freakish-looking original design for Sonic, and the studio earned a lot of positive press when it decided to delay the movie to "fix" Sonic's look.
The success of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie virtually guarantees that fans will have a Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie to look forward to in the future. Hopefully fans don't have to wait too long to see what's next for the blue hedgehog.
Sonic the Hedgehog is in theaters now.
Source: CinemaBlend