Sonic Boom: The Movie

Sonic Boom: The Movie is a 2018 action-adventure comedy animated film, based on the television series, Sonic Boom. The film will be dedicated to Eggman's Japanese voice actor Chikao Ohtsuka.

The film is the first Sonic theatrical film in a franchise since Sonic X: The Final Chapter - Part 2 in 2014, though will not be accounted as a new installment of the Sonic X film series. However, it is the ninth Sonic the Hedgehog theatrical film overall. The film will is distributed by Warner Bros. and released the film in Japan on May 25, 2018, and was also released in the United States / Canada on June 1, 2018.

Plot
A millennium ago, the Ancients were an advanced civilization whose race was devoted to peacefully controlling the world's resources. Just before Lyric could successfully take over, he and his army attacked the last surviving Ancients to seize the Lost Crystal. However, the Ancients broke the Lost Crystal and used its shards to imprison Lyric forever. The Ancients knew Lyric would one day be free however, so they used this opportunity to hide the Crystal Shards.

In a present day, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks are enjoying their day until they found something suspicious from the other location of Bygone Island. As they find themselves arriving on an island where they encounter an ancient tomb with carvings of Sonic and Tails on the entrance. Sonic is stopped twice by Amy from opening the door, but when Metal Sonic ambushes the group, Sonic opens the door and the group escape. Inside, they encounter an imprisoned, but powerful snake villain named "Cliff the Last Ancient". Cliff recognizes Sonic from events transpiring one thousand years ago and captures the group, but Tails deactivates the shackles and turns them into beams named Enerbeams for the group to use.

After meeting Larry and Tonic, the group discovers that Cliff planned to power an army of war robots with the "Chaos Crystals" to create a world of twisted metal and robots, but both Larry and Tonic were imprisoned by their peers among the Ancients when they discovered the plan; the group then set out to retrieve the Chaos Crystals before Lyric.

At an abandoned research facility, they meet MAIA, a robot who rebelled against Lyric, who assists them by creating a time portal, allowing Sonic and Tails to go one thousand years back in time to retrieve a map showing the location of the Chaos Crystals. Sonic and Tails are then attacked by Shadow, but defeat him, enter the portal, successfully retrieve the map from inside Cliff's weapon facility and trap him inside for future imprisonment by the Ancients.

Cliff reluctantly forms an alliance with Eggman, but after no success, Lyric turns on Eggman by programming Metal Sonic against him as well as Shadow's return. The group defeat Metal Sonic and Eggman and retrieve the final Chaos Crystal, but Sonic is then surrounded by Lyric and his robots. Cliff demands the Crystals; Sonic refuses to give them up, but Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks agree to do so. Sonic is then attacked by Cliffs robots and buried under rubble, but recovers and the group set out to Cliff's Lair to stop him.

During the battle, Cliff, along with Tonic and Larry betrays Sonic and the gang, reprograms the Enerbeams to ensnare the group, but before he can take advantage of the situation, Shadow ambushes Cliff from behind, freeing the group. Tonic and Larry reveals that Cliff is their best friend. Sonic then ties up Cliff, Tonic and Larry, with assistance from his friends and removes Cliff's technopathy device to incapacitate him; Knuckles discards it. The group celebrate, but in a post-credits scene, Eggman recovers the device and uses it to revive Metal Sonic.

Cast

 * Roger Craig Smith as Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Colleen O'Shaughnessy as Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Cindy Robinson as Amy Rose
 * Travis Willingham as Knuckles the Echidna
 * Nika Futterman as Sticks the Badger
 * Kirk Thornton as Cliff and Orbot / Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Walley Wingert as Cubot
 * Akon as Tonic the Hedgehog
 * Jason Marsden as Larry the Hedgehog
 * Mike Pollock as Dr. Eggman

Production
Production began on April 25, 2017 and ended on December 10, 2017. Director Yuji Naka said in an interview "Well, we needed to have the voice actors do the voices and... yeah."

Ryan Drummond was planned for the role of Tonic but was given to Akon instead. The movie takes place in the Sonic Boom continuity, though the effects will be more dramatic than it is in the television series. It was claimed that Larry and Tonic were born on Bygone Island.

Release
Sonic Boom: The Movie will hit theaters in the United States/Canada on June 1, 2018. Originally scheduled for a August 17, 2018 release, but decided to move up to June 1, 2018 after Deadpool 2 rescheduled it's release to May 18, 2018. The film was released in Japan on May 25, 2018. The film's trailer premiered on January 2018. The film's first poster was revealed on January 5, 2018. The film will be released in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2018 and in Australia on July 26, 2018. A world premiere took place on May 24, 2018.

Critical response
Sonic Boom: The Movie received mixed reviews from critics; half positive and half negative. It scored a 56% from Rotten Tomatoes. Before it's release, many Sonic the Hedgehog fans claims that this is by far the best Sonic the Hedgehog film yet, as well as one of the best films of the year, alongside Iron Man 3, Man of Steel and Thor: Dark of the World and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Also critics for the film gave it mixed to positive reviews, calling it the most action packed Sonic the Hedgehog film yet. Dustin Harris of The New York Times gave the film a positive review praising it one of the most anticipated cliffhanger films ever made. Some critics also compare this film to film franchises such as Harry Potter, Jane Hoop Elementary and Twilight as "a rip-off" in a negative way.

Variety gave the film a postive review, stating it "The best one yet, and a bad ass one." It also stated: "Sonic's voice sounded too different than the original from the last ones, and this film should have done way better than usual." The Times newspaper rated the film on a scale of a 3 out of 5. Entertainment Weekly Amanda Humphrey gave the film a C and also praised: "for what's something about drama, is something that audiences were expected to listen and watch to hear the whole thing for it. The movie is far as one of the most fun movies of 2018. " Blogcritics praised: "Sonic Boom: The Movie is funny and playful."'

Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers praised the film: "This movie is like taking you on an adventure. This is far as the best Sonic Boom movie of them all." Richard Stengel of Time magazine praised: "This is far as the best movie of 2018. Anyone has to watch this movie. Romance, actions, drama and sometimes comedy and more are being showing. I think that this might be a blockbuster hit for the summer." David Halberstam of New York magazine reviews the film when praising: "When it comes on watching so many animated movies of the franchise. Video game fans were seeming to enjoy them and asking Hollywood that they want to see more and more."

Box office
Sonic Boom: The Movie is premiering in 3,325 theaters on June 1, 2018, projecting to debut between $20 million to $25 million in it's opening weekend. Some say it could break the $30 million mark. It first open in Japan on May 25, 2018 earning $4 million during it's opening weekend, which took the #1 spot.