Sonic the Hedgehog (film)/Trivia

A list of trivia related to *Sonic the Hedgehog*.

## List of Sonic the Hedgehog (Film Series) References

* Following the film's release, a sequel was slated to be made. Later on, both another sequel and a Paramount+ television series was also in development, announced before the release of the second film. This film has thus set up a cinematic universe based around the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
* In the film, Tails appears in the post-credits scene in search of Sonic the Hedgehog. This confirmed Tails' broader appearance in *Sonic the Hedgehog 2*.
	+ The scene was reanimated in the sequel, mainly due to the switch of visual effects studios.
* Sonic performs "The Floss" at several points, a dance popularized by *Fortnite*.

## List of Sonic the Hedgehog series References

* Van Robichaux originally wrote a scene for the film where Dr. Robotnik had a coffee maker named Mean Bean Machine after the game *Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine* but it was cut from the final film.
* In the now-deleted first trailer for *Sonic the Hedgehog*, a header reads "EVERY HERO... HAS A GENESIS", a reference to the Sega Genesis.
* The rings on the Paramount Pictures logo at the beginning of *Sonic the Hedgehog*, as well as the sound effect used when Sonic loses his rings, are directly lifted from the series.
* During Sonic's life on his island, he is seen rolling through an area identical in layout to Green Hill Zone Act 2 from *Sonic Generations*.
* The Echidna who shot Longclaw was, according to Tyson Hesse, Chief Pachacamac.
* In a deleted scene, Excalibur and Sonic's training sword from *Sonic and the Black Knight* make a brief cameo appearance in the alternate opening scene. When Sonic and Longclaw are getting attacked by the echidnas, they can briefly be seen on the wall.
* The function of rings as portals is a common element within the main series, although they typically warp to other dimensions, rather than other areas of the same universe.
* Sonic's map of "safe worlds" contains several references:
	+ Sonic's Island is based on the map of South Island from the 8-bit version of *Sonic the Hedgehog*.
	+ The checkerboard planet is similar to the Blue Sphere Special Stage.
	+ One planet directly resembles the Sega Saturn logo.
	+ One planet and the background of the map itself is based on the drawing of the sun Naoto Ohshima drew for concept artwork of a loop for the original *Sonic the Hedgehog*.
	+ In the corner of a map is an emerald with a ribbon and question marks. The emerald resembles one of the emeralds seen in Hidden Palace Zone, and the ribbon resembles the ribbons used on the title screens of Sega Mega Drive *Sonic* games.
		- The emerald was later identified in *Sonic the Hedgehog 2* to refer to the Master Emerald Shrine.
* Crazy Carl referred to Sonic as the "Blue Devil", which is also the name of Metal Sonic's vehicle in *Sonic Drift 2*.
* Crazy Carl at one point holds a picture of Sanic, a fan-made meme of the Sonic the Hedgehog character.
* In the scene where Tom and Maddie look at her laptop with an apartment ad, the name of the owner of that apartment is named "Amy Rose", being a possible reference to the character of the same name.
* Dr. Robotnik refers to his robots as "Badniks" at many points, which is the same name they are given in the main series.
* While leaving the *Piston Pit*, Sonic uses his render pose from *Sonic Lost World* to vault into a car.
* During the hotel scene, Sonic can be seen balancing on a light in a similar sense to his balancing animation from the first *Sonic the Hedgehog* game. This was a reference added to the film by the request of Tyson Hesse.
* During a car chase scene, Sonic performs a drop dash, a maneuver first seen in *Sonic Mania*.
* Sonic says "guess I had a bonus life" following a near-death explosion, a reference to extra lives in Sonic games.
* At one point, Sonic performs his idle animation from *Sonic the Hedgehog 3*.
* During a chase scene, Sonic uses his render pose from *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* to dodge a laser. Later in the same scene, he performs a slide maneuver, which is common within the series.
* As Sonic flees from Dr. Robotnik, a street sign has the name "Mega Drive", referencing the Sega Mega Drive, the console's name outside of North America, where it is called the Sega Genesis.
* Sonic's race car bed introduced in this film is a prominent object in the Archie Comics *Sonic the Hedgehog* series.

## Casting

* The film had many casting choices set for the two main characters Sonic the Hedgehog and Tom Wachowski.
	+ Tom's casting choices were: Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Paul Rudd, Jake Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Bill Hader, Jason Segal, Justin Timberlake, Adam Pally (who would later portray Wade Whipple), Ansel Elgort and Milo Ventimiglia.
		- An early poster of the film had early casting choice Chris Pratt as Tom Wachowski.
		- A concept art showed Chris Evans fighting along Sonic during the Piston Pit Brawl.
	+ Sonic's voice casting choices were: Tom Holland, Josh Gad, Chris Pratt, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Will Forte, Jim Parsons, Charlie Day, Paul Rudd and Adam Devine.

## Production

* *Sonic the Hedgehog* received a large amount of criticism from major outlets when the first trailer was released on April 30, 2019. The design of the title character was criticized, as well as its use of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" for background music. It was later deleted alongside an announcement that the title character would be redesigned in the final release. The movie was delayed a final time to February 14, 2020, with director Jeff Fowler stating, "Taking a little more time to make Sonic just right." A second trailer showing an improved Sonic design by Tyson Hesse was released on November 12, 2019, just eight months after the first.
	+ The original character designer of Sonic the Hedgehog, Yuji Naka, said he was "shocked" by the design of the character in the first trailer, citing an imbalance between his head and abdomen.
	+ The second trailer had the highest like-to-dislike ratio of any YouTube video in the prior three years.
* Big the Cat would've made a cameo appearance in the film, but was ultimately cut.