Could ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Speed Paramount’s Recovery at the Box Office?
“Sonic the Hedgehog,” a film once known as a “Cats”-level internet joke, has become Paramount’s biggest box office hit in almost 18 months. With a three-day domestic opening of $58 million, the film based on Sega’s blue speedster has given the Viacom-owned studio its best opening weekend since 2018’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.” That’s welcome news after Paramount’s disappointing $563.9 million in total domestic box office in 2019, when none of the studio’s releases managed to cross $100 million in domestic ticket sales. While the Elton John biopic “Rocketman” produced a profit with $195 million in global ticket sales against a $40 million budget, the studio struck out hard with would-be blockbusters “Gemini Man” and “Terminator: Dark Fate.” Both films had budgets well over $100 million, and both failed to gross even $300 million worldwide. (Paramount shared the costs on “Gemini Man” with Skydance, Alibaba and Fosun, while “Dark Fate” was co-financed with Skydance and Disney’s 20th Century Fox.) Also Read: The Short Oscar Season Was Tough for Hollywood, but Good for Box Office With “Sonic” off to a fast start, Paramount is now looking ahead to what it hopes will be a brighter 2020 with a film slate featuring...
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