Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has officially become a huge success for Paramount. The sequel starring Jim Carrey and Idris Elba made $71 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, setting a new top record for a video game adaptation. The previous record holder was the first Sonic film, which dashed out in February 2020 and earned an equally impressive $70 million. Paramount has already confirmed that a third movie is in development, one that will seemingly introduce one of Sonic’s more shadowy nemeses. Ambulance, the new film from Michael Bay that also opened this weekend, only made $8.7 million in comparison.
“Sonic 2‘s record opening is a victory for Paramount and for the industry at large,” said Paramount Theatrical Distribution Boss Chris Aronson. “The filmmakers did an amazing job of crafting a film that is both in service of Sonic’s legions of fans as well as the general and family audience.”
“Growing a franchise is no small feat and having an opening +22% over the first film is a remarkable achievement,” he added. “Kudos to the filmmakers and to the marketing and distributions teams at Paramount for doing a fantastic job in bringing the film into the global marketplace!”
‘Sonic The Hedgehog 2’ Beats Weekend Opening Of First Movie With $71M; What ‘Ambulance’ Misfire Means For Action Pics Today – Sunday AM Box Office Update (Deadline)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is outstripping the three-day opening results of its 2020 original movie — which, keep in mind, was over a holiday weekend — with $71M. For Jim Carrey, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is his biggest domestic opener on a three-day basis, beating the $68M start of Bruce Almighty in 2003.
Sonic 2‘s updated gross is after an estimated $26M Saturday, which was up 1% against Friday plus previews of $26.8M. Technically speaking, the Jeff Fowler-directed sequel was up 30% on Saturday over Friday if you back out previews.
Knock on wood, it’s going to be fun to see the legs on this one and how vibrant a Sonic movie can truly be in the market, especially for a sector that has been starving for movies. The first movie’s momentum was stalled by Covid and the closing of movie theaters, the pic making close to 50% of its $148.9M final domestic in its first four days.