The Original Cancelled Sonic Movie: Sonic the Hedgehog Wonders of the World - Canned Goods

In 1993, Sega began development of a live action Sonic the Hedgehog movie. The game was meant to tie into the release of Sonic X-Treme on the Sega Saturn and saw Sonic fighting Dr. Robotnik in the real world.
On this episode of Canned Goods, we'll cover the development, plot, and cancellation of the original Sonic the Hedgehog movie, Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World.
00:00 Intro
00:36 Sonic The Hedgehog Wonders of the World's Development
02:14 Sonic The Hedgehog Wonders of the World Plot Breakdown
06:15 Why Did Sonic The Hedgehog Wonders of the World Get Cancelled?

[@ianhill2906]

4:13 Can't believe Robotnik was trying to make NFTs.

[@Rose_Bride]

As someone born in the early 1980's, growing up in the 90's...I can *100%* attest that EVERYTHING about this proposed (now dead) film is a product of it's time. This is one of the most "90's" thing I've seen in a loong while. 😄

[@brandonspain12345]

This would've been just as 90s as Space Jam and Batman Forever and it probably could've been ironically loved as both of those films.

[@GabryRedSonicFan2010]

This reminds me a episode of aosth (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog) called "Robotnikland" and Jumanji from 1995 and even Sonic X

[@jonmcintyre1144]

With a bit of Bill and Ted

[@normanmccultureboy6492]

Of course we finally got the Sonic movie we got made by Paramount with the return and popularity of comedian Jim Carrey and the redesigned Sonic after the first trailer

[@brandonspain12345]

6:03 Not true. Casper (1995) was the first movie have the main lead be CGI. This Sonic would was written in 1995, the same year as Casper came out, and would've been released possibly in 1996 or 1997 with Sonic ExTreme.

[@HemmasStudios_]

This is a tremendous catch- thank you for keeping me honest. :)

[@DarkHeroesForever]

Regardless, based on what it sounds like, it looks to be the tired trope of the CGI protagonist being second fiddle to the bland and uninteresting human protagonists, instead of being the actual star of his own movie, which honestly makes me glad that we ended up with the movie we got. While I wasn't a fan of the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie, one of the praises I give the film was that Sonic himself was the main character and isn't presented as a sidekick to James Marsden's character.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

@@DarkHeroesForever Yup. I can see the pattern where cartoon characters paired up with a human character that is somewhat unnecessary (except Space Jam because who knows LeBron "Sprite Cranberry" James is gonna be here. Same goes with David Hasselhoff from Spongebob SquarePants Movie).

[@DarkHeroesForever]

@@poweroffriendship2.0 kzbin.info/www/bejne/pHmki2d8fd-JqM0 I think this video perfectly describes why I'm glad they didn't go through with it.

[@srstriker6420]

Some of these elements reminds me of the Last Action Hero and Sonic X

[@joegahan7055]

On one had its good that it didn't got made due to limitations on CGI back then, I think an animated version would had been the better choice. On the other I'm very curious as to how this would had played out. Guess it pays to wait.

[@unnamedchannel2613]

Mgn back out of the deal

[@brandonspain12345]

I remember hearing it could've been a Roger Rabbit style movie where Sonic is 2D, and Robotnik would just be in heavy makeup, but if it was CGI, it would have to for ILM, who have done Casper and Rocky and Bullwinkle and the effects in both films look pretty good, so Sonic probably could've looked like the Generations Sonic just deeper blue.

[@TheStreetFoolosopherMr187]

Sega wasn't friendly with Hollywood back then, Dreamworks said no & they didn't want to paid that heavy license fee to use Sonic

[@GabryRedSonicFan2010]

So if Sonic Is descript as a CGI Hybrid character..... Why Robotnik Is NOT descript??

[@HemmasStudios_]

I imagine he’d be a human actor like how Jim Carey was in the Sonic movie that released

[@GabryRedSonicFan2010]

@@HemmasStudios_ i mean, Is a Kids movie From the 90s..

[@dukenightrider6104]

@@HemmasStudios_ I believe if this film went into production, they would have gotten Jim Carrey for robotnik since it would have been at the Hight of his career

[@Psyloom]

Great video bro! This video and your channel is very underrated. More people should watch your content!

[@HemmasStudios_]

Thank you so much, I appreciate that you think so!

[@GabryRedSonicFan2010]

If Sonic Xtreme was goin to tie in with the movie... What Robotnik he looks like? (In The Movie)

[@HemmasStudios_]

The assumption is that Sonic and Robotnik would retain their designs from Sonic Xtreme. At least to my knowledge, there is no footage from Xtreme featuring Eggman, or at least there wasn't when I made the video. I'd be fascinated to see how he was supposed to look!

[@GabryRedSonicFan2010]

@@HemmasStudios_ But there Is a storyboard from Sonic Xtreme that there's Eggman with Is original design.... So this mean that Robotnik was CGI?!

[@brandonspain12345]

@@GabryRedSonicFan2010 Not necessarily. I would imagine them doing what the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie did where Sonic is CG and Robotnik is a actor in makeup. He would've probably would've looked like the way Robotnik always looked in the game just with a fatsuit for an actor.

[@benmalsky9834]

Had Wonders of the World been made and Dr. Eggman was still the villain, I really think that they would have picked a better name for his disguised company other than Shady Corporation. Even by the standards of a children's film that's too painfully obvious and would have made Dr. Pinski look foolish for trusting him with the XRI. Naming it something less inconspicuous like Botnik Technologies or something like that would have been better. Also, I don't quite understand the whole "capturing of the landmarks" as Eggman's endgame when simply roboticizing the children and forming an army would have been fine enough. It would have been a natural progression of Eggman roboticizing simple animals like in the games and the Mobius citizens in Sat-AM. The whole capturing landmarks thing I think was done better years later in Despicable Me, where it's more of a calling card.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

James Cameron put "unobtanium" in his Avatar movie, so I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that "Shady Corporation" would have ended up in the final movie.

[@davidjames579]

The setup reminds me a lot of Last Action Hero. Maybe that's another reason why they couldn't get it made. The Sonic in the real world idea of course was used in the 2020 movie, and I just wish they'd do it set in Sonic's world. It's like saying Star Wars should take place in L.A. But they always have to go for that audience identification thing, and believe that people won't watch if they don't have an on-screen surrogate, which is BS. Speaking of Masters Of The Universe, that movie took the toy and cartoon's USP and squandered it by setting most of it in smalltown USA, clearly for budget reasons, but it highlights the unreal elements and looks ridiculous.

[@srstriker6420]

That’s what I was thinking

[@KasumiKenshirou]

TV Tropes had a whole section called something like "human focused adaptations", where the characters come into "the real world" instead of the movie staying in the character's world. The stupidest one of these was Fat Albert. They're just human children, yet for some reason they had to come out of a TV into the real world. There was also a meme where someone put together identical scenes from a bunch of these movies with the CGI character sitting in a car with the human character.

[@mediamuncher6982]

I wouldn't mind it if they change a few things...

[@GabryRedSonicFan2010]

Cool poster dude.

[@HemmasStudios_]

Thanks!!

[@GabryRedSonicFan2010]

@@HemmasStudios_ i like that logo you made.

[@BVK2406Productions]

I Love The Sonic Movie We Eventually Got, And I Loved The Sequel Even More, And The Sequel Is Currently My Favourite Movie Of All Time, As Well As Also Being My Favourite Movie Of All Time, But This Version Does Sound Interesting. I Feel Like Had This Movie Been Released, It Would Have Been A Decent Fun Adventure Movie, Though I Feel Like The First Movie And It’s Sequel We Ultimately Had A Better Story And Characters. I Also Know That This Wasn’t The Only Sonic Movie To Get Canned. In 2002, There Was An Animated Sonic Movie Called Sonic Armageddon, Which Was Pitched By Ken Penders, But It Was Cancelled In 2007. In 2013, Sony Picked Up The Rights To Make A Film Franchise Based Of Sonic, With A Sonic Movie Being Released Every Year, With The First One Being Released In 2016. But In 2017, Sony Put The Film Into A Turnaround, Where Paramount Picked Up The Rights, And The Rest Is History. Also, When I Went On Cancelled Movies Wiki, It Said That The Sonic Movie Was Supposed To Be Released In 2018 By Sony Pictures Animation, And The Poster Had Sonic With Tom Wachowski (Who Is Played By Chris Pratt Instead Of James Marsden). Also, Even Though Dreamworks Weren’t Interested In The Sonic Movie, I Wonder How Steven Spielberg Would Feel Like If He Saw The Pitch, And Then We Would End Up With A Sonic Movie Done By Dreamworks And Spielberg’s Company Amblin Entertainment. But Anyways, I Hope You Have A Great Day, And Good Bye!

[@StudioMetroProductions]

1:55 No, Sonic Forces was supposed to be released along side the OG version of the Sonic movie.

[@mr_indie_fan]

And we have a great sonic movie in modern day!

[@HemmasStudios_]

Major emphasis on great, and Sonic 2 looks like it could be even better!

[@OvertheHedge06]

Imagine how horrifying Sonic could've been with 90s CGI If we thought the original design was horrifying imagine what that monstrosity could've been like with 90s CG

[@maxpops8427]

Idk Not all 90s CGI was bad. Granted I still can’t really see how sonic could possibly be made with that tech

[@OvertheHedge06]

@@maxpops8427 Have you rewatched Phantom Menace lately? Jar Jar is fucking terrifying to look at now

[@maxpops8427]

@@OvertheHedge06 JarJar was terrifying to begin with.

[@Luccadude221]

I mean idk if the CGI would have been horrible I mean look at Toy Story. Sure it hasn't aged the best but I still think it looks good for it's time. If they used the Sonic 3d blast model maybe it would have worked. Also if this movie did get made, who would have played Sonic?

[@tailsprowerfan2729]

@@Luccadude221the guy who played as the character in family matters

[@GabryRedSonicFan2010]

Sonic: where em i? robotnik: i order an amusment park and i gonna take over the world ah ah ah! Josh: oh no! what i done!

[@toon-fan3200]

The reason the movie got shelved is because of creative differences with both Sega and MGM.

[@isaiahvilla6691]

You know i wonder if they were gonna make Sonic talk in the flim Because around that know time the adventures of sonic the hedgehog cartoon Series did had Sonic speak And he was played by Jaleel White. So again, I wonder if they were gonna cast him to voice Sonic.

[@comixproviderftw_02]

So basically the Fat Albert movie from 2004 ripped this off

[@danthomas9129]

Technically yes but just a show instead of the video game but yeah I bet they got the idea this movie got cancelled and decided to make there own version

[@GlitchyBoi64YouTube]

3:15 tails was gonna get out too but he was too late

[@nathanblevins158]

What next a samurai jack style legend of Zelda cartoon… That could work

[@HemmasStudios_]

That would be dope!

[@nathanblevins158]

@@HemmasStudios_ would link talk or stay mute?

[@toon-fan3200]

Can you please talk about Sony's cancelled version of Sonic the Hedgehog please

[@HemmasStudios_]

I can definitely look into that!

[@calumsanderson6741]

Holy shit. This sounds amazing

[@deloncombrink7578]

I wish the movie was never canncelled

[@normanmccultureboy6492]

At least we finally got the Sonic movie

[@danthomas9129]

I heard they didn't want to do it cuz how video game movies at the time do horrible In the box office like the live action Mario bros movie they thought it wouldn't do good in the box office so they cancelled it

[@BusterMoonAndSonicFan2022]

💙💙💙

[@theshenpartei]

You need to a video on the other 2 sonic movie drafts first one was done by infamous ken penders and the other one was done by Ben hurst of sonic satam fame.

[@HemmasStudios_]

Fun fact: I actually intended to do a video on the Penders draft around the time Sonic 2 came out but time totally got away from me. I'm sure I'll circle back around to doing the other two at some point!

[@GabryRedSonicFan2010]

hi hemmas studios uhm.. can i tell you a something about this film?

[@superbat728]

Sonic go to real world Sonic x sonic movieHey we copy your home work

[@TurboPro9952]

In my opinion it would've been okay i guess. i'm giving it a 51/100.

[@crashban4t.f.s.b783]

The movie would have sucked more than the one that we did get. I don’t like the Sonic live action movies but, this one would have been so boooring

[@KasumiKenshirou]

I think "Kinderbot" is meant to be the German word "kinder" (meaning "child", as in "Kindergarten") rather than the English word.

[@HemmasStudios_]

Oh wow, I never thought of that- that’s definitely how you’re supposed to say it.

[@1nickyross]

Bruh, you mispelled cancelled Edit: I think I triggered you

[@HemmasStudios_]

LMAO. I responded to this comment before but idk why that response isn't here anymore. If you didn't see it, short version is that cancelled can be spelled with one or two Ls and technically be correct, though, enough people have said that I misspelled it that I just added the second L regardless.

[@1nickyross]

Wouldn't that be some work going through all of them and changing it?

[@crashban4t.f.s.b783]

The movie would have been interesting. It would have been awful.

[@the-NightStar]

I mean, it's not any worse than the piece of shit that DID get made.