Exclusive: Sonic Star Ben Schwartz’ Favorite Video Game Movies

CS Feature: Sonic the Hedgehog’s Ben Schwartz favorite video game movies

With his lead role in this year’s hit video game adaptation Sonic the Hedgehog, ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to chat with Ben Schwartz once again and talk about the Parks and Recreation vet’s favorite films set around the video game world. Click here to purchase Sonic the Hedgehog on Digital HD!

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The film was originally set to hit theaters this past November but after very negative reviews from audiences surrounding the design of the iconic character, Paramount delayed the release to February 14, 2020, with the goal of redesigning Sonic to better fit his look from the video games, and the move worked, scoring positive reviews from critics and audiences alike and grossing over $306 million at the global box office on a $95 million production budget.

Written by Patrick Casey (Golan the Insatiable), Josh Miller (Golan the Insatiable) and Oren Uziel (The Cloverfield Paradox), the film follows Tom Wachowski, a cop in the rural town of Green Hills, who decides to help Sonic escape from the government looking to capture him. The film is directed by Jeff Fowler and executive produced by Tim Miller (Terminator: Dark Fate).

The cast for Sonic the Hedgehog includes Jim Carrey (Kidding) as Sonic’s rival, Doctor Robotnik/Eggman, James Marsden (Westworld) as Wachowski, a police officer who teams up with Sonic; Adam Pally (The Mindy Project) as Tom’s fellow police officer, Tika Sumpter (Ride Along), and Natasha Rothwell (Wonder Woman 1984). Ben Schwartz (Parks and Rec) provides the voice for Sonic in the film.

Sonic the Hedgehog is now available on Digital HD and lands on 4K UHD and Blu-ray on May 19!

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Prior to this year’s Sonic and last year’s Detective Pikachu, the video game film genre was generally considered one of the most cursed in film, with reviews generally tarnishing the stories and dialogue that worked in various video game franchises in previous years while box office numbers varying from complete flops such as Super Mario Bros. to modest successes such as Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Though Schwartz generally jokes about this curse, he does hold a fairly questionable preference in that genre.

Super Mario Bros.

Ben Schwartz: Super Mario Bros. would be a top number one, I did watch that in theaters, I think, which is kind of amazing. It’s hard not to say Super Mario. The one that sticks out in my mind the most is Super Mario Bros. because I was 12 when it came out. That’s like prime — and I was playing video games nonstop. And so for that to come out — for there to be a movie version of something that I played was a huge deal because that was very much a videogame that I could like, point to something and show my parents and this is something that I liked. And then you get to the movie theater and it’s like tiny little dinosaur heads with huge shoulders. But I remember that being a huge deal.

Resident Evil

Ben Schwartz: Oh I remember when I first got Resident Evil, I was borrowing my cousin’s PlayStation because in our house you had like one console. You weren’t allowed to have like, two or whatever. So I was borrowing my cousin’s PlayStation and I would bring people in to watch Resident Evil. And I’d make them sit down and shut off all the lights. You know that scene where they’re walking down the hallway and the dog jumps through the window? Oh it used to make me so happy to see people freak out, just because for a video game at that time to do something like that kind of surprised me. I think I really enjoyed the Resident Evil movies.

The Wizard

Ben Schwartz: You know what wasn’t in there, which was a big deal and I guess you can’t technically call it — there’s a movie called The Wizard with Fred Savage. It’s not listed on any of the lists. But to me that was a huge deal, too, because not only did it show Mario 3, but it showed like, you could be good at video games and people can cheer you on and stuff like that. I remember when I was a kid I went to the Javits Center in New York to play in this Nintendo competition and it was like, such a big deal to me and I loved it so much. So probably for real The Wizard because that meant so much to me, and it showed me a video game that hadn’t come out yet that was like, blowing my mind and that was a big one. But if it had to be an actual adaptation, it probably would be Mario Brothers just because I could point and show my parents what I’m playing all the time.

Sonic the Hedgehog is currently available for on digital platforms now and can be purchased here!

What’s your favorite video game to film adaptation? Let us know in the comments below!

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)