Jeff Fowler said that he found himself asking what would happen if there was another negative reaction after the original design drew a fierce backlash
The director of the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie has admitted to feeling some anxiety about how fans would react to the redesigned version of Sonic, after the original design drew fierce backlash.
Speaking to Digital Spy, Jeff Fowler said that although he hoped fans would embrace the updated design, he did find himself asking what would happen if there was another negative reaction.
He said, "I think it had been about five months that had passed since the first trailer. We had worked very hard on our updates to the character. It was definitely a little bit of like, 'Oh man, what happens if they don't like this?'
"But really, everyone that saw it internally as I was working on the film, just responded so positively. It really felt like, once we shared it with the fans, they would really embrace it and be excited about it.
"Fortunately, any anxiety I had the night before passed really quickly once it was released. Because, yeah, it was such an incredible feeling to see Sonic 2.0 get embraced the way it was."
When the first trailer was released back in April 2019, many fans of the character expressed their concerns about the design - with his human teeth, small eyes and long legs among the features singled out for criticism.
This prompted Fowler to announce that "the message was loud and clear" and that a redesign was unnecessary, causing delays to the release of the film.
And the new version went down a whole lot better, causing a little more optimism amongst the fanbase regarding the film's release.
Sonic the Hedgehog is in UK cinemas from Friday February 14th 2020
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
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