Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Shattered A Stunning Box Office Record

Live-action film adaptations of popular video games have come a long way since the days of Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo bringing Mario and Luigi to life in 1993's "Super Mario Bros." Just a year before that movie was released, one of the jumping plumber's biggest rivals, a certain hyperspeed hedgehog, had his second outing on consols with "Sonic the Hedgehog 2." It wouldn't be until around 30 years later that Sonic would get his own series of live-action movie adaptations, but now that the second film in a burgeoning franchise has released, the blue blur himself has made video game movie history. Good going, Sonic.

The movie "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" brings back Sonic's (Ben Schwartz) humanoid friends the Wachowskis (James Marsden Tika Sumpter), and also gives SEGA fans a healthy dose of the iconic game characters Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba). Critics have mostly given the new movie their stamp of approval, as evidenced by the film's 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, and now that the film has had its opening weekend, we also know that audiences have lapped the return of the prickly protagonist right up. So much so that the legendary speedster has gone on to break all-new records that not even Nathan Drake or Lara Croft have touched.

A family-friendly film based on a popular video game with generally positive reviews was bound to bring in the money, but when looking at this weekend's box office, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" actually went above and beyond in that regard. All in all, the film hauled in an incredible $141 million over the weekend, with $71 million of that being earned domestically (via Box Office Mojo). As noted by IGN, those numbers give "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" the distinction of having the highest-grossing opening weekend for a video game movie adaptation to date. Not only is that impressive haul enough to buy a decade's worth of chili dogs, but it also dethroned the latest Marvel hero. "Morbius" may have been in the top spot during its opening weekend, but its paltry $10.2 million in its second weekend didn't even come close to besting Ben Schwartz's heroic hedgehog. Of course, not being considered that good a film may have been an issue.

It's excellent news for the franchise that has easily given us two of the best movies based on a majorly popular video game. With success like this, it's safe to say that "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" will likely be loading in no time at all, particularly given the tantalizing fore-Shadow-ing at the new film's end. Your move, Mario.