Sonic the Hedgehog won’t be coming out this November after all. Thanks, Twitter.

Director Jeff Fowler announced today via Twitter that, due to design changes on the main character after a small portion of the internet complained about Sonic’s look, the movie will be delayed to February 14, 2020. It was originally slated to hit theaters November 8, 2019.

The backlash over Sonic’s odd character design started when Paramount released the movie’s first teaser poster. It reached a fever pitch when the first trailer was released, and a vocal minority of fans — made louder by the internet’s echo chamber — complained so much about Sonic’s face and human teeth (yup, that was a thing) that Paramount and Fowler decided to go back to the drawing board and make some costly tweaks.

To delay a release date of a movie to retool a character design that had been finalized for at least a year sets a problematic precedent for movies moving forward that are pre-judged and scrutinized before the final product can be seen. Changing Sonic’s look in the movie will also impact any designs already approved for merchandising as well. Is the monetary cost of such last-minute changes worth it? Will it really make a dent at the box office? Should we maybe not let the Twitter inmates run the Hollywood asylum?

We’ll find out next year on Valentine’s Day whether or not it was all worth it.

 

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