Sonic the Hedgehog (2007 film)

Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2004 American live-action/computer-animated adventure film based on the 1998 video game, Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut. Directed by Taika Waititi from a screenplay by Dean Cundey, it is the first installment in the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy, and stars the voices of Joe Thomas, Karen Bernstein, The Rock, Kathryn Newton, Jon St. John, Jim Carrey, Tyler Perry, and Ron Perlman. The film follows Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Big the Cat, and E-102 Gamma in their quests to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds and stop series antagonist Doctor Robotnik from unleashing Chaos, an ancient evil.

Warner Bros. bought the film rights to the game in December 2000 for a reported £1 million ($1.65 million). Production began in 2001, with Taika Waititi being chosen to create the film from a shortlist of directors that included Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner. Exercising its option on just two elements from the multi-script acquisition (a different screenplay was written by James Cameron, Ted Newsom, John Brancato, Barney Cohen, and Joseph Goldman), Sony hired Koepp to create a working screenplay (credited as Cameron's), and Koepp received sole credit in final billing. Directors Tim Burton, Roland Emmerich, Ang Lee, Chris Columbus, Jan de Bont, M. Night Shyamalan, Tony Scott, and David Fincher were considered to direct the project before Waititi was hired as director in 2002. The Koepp script was rewritten by Scott Rosenberg during pre-production and received a dialogue polish from Alvin Sargent during production. Filming took place in Los Angeles and New York City from May 30 to July 22, 2003. Sony Pictures Imageworks handled the film's visual effects.

It premiered on August 23, 2004, at the Golden State Theatre, released on August 26, 2004, at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and had its general release on September 1, 2004 in the United States, and on September 22, 2004 in New Zealand. The film was highly acclaimed by both critics and audiences, who considered it to be a landmark in filmmaking and an achievement in the fantasy film genre. It grossed $743 million worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing film of all time.