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Paramount Pictures has nabbed the movie rights to Sonic the Hedgehog, the popular SEGA video game franchise.
Neal H. Moritz, whose Original Film banner recently signed an upcoming first look deal with Paramount, will produce the project, which is coming to the studio after Sony Entertainment put it into turnaround.
Much of the team that was developing it at Sony remains: In addition to Moritz, Deadpool director Tim Miller is executive producing, while his longtime Blur Studio collaborator Jeff Fowler will make his feature directorial debut on the film. Also executive producing is Toby Ascher, while Dmitri Johnson and Dan Jevons will serve as co-producers.
Sonic the Hedgehog centers on Sonic and his friends, such as Tails and Knuckles, who run around collecting items and points as they attempt to foil the global domination plans of Doctor Eggman Robotnik. The game was first released by SEGA in 1991, with the character becoming one of the world’s biggest gaming icons. More than 360 million copies, including both packaged and digital games, have been sold on various platforms.
Paramount plans on making a movie that will blend live action and CGI animation as it brings Sonic to the big screen for the first time.
Fowler previously wrote and directed the animal-centric Gopher Broke, the 2005 Academy Award-nominated animated short that Miller executive produced.
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