Listening to Social Media: Paramount Hears Your Cries

Personally, I believe social media to be the scourge of the world. I hate it with my whole being and view it as a place to vent and complain just for the sake of venting and complaining. However, with this class, I have been seeing how social media actually does have its uses to businesses and companies alike. By listening to the ominous cloud of opinions, companies can actually tailor make products to a consumers tastes. Enter Paramount Pictures and its design for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog live-action movie adaptation of the franchise.
For the months leading up to April of 2019, the marketing for the Sonic movie had one major complaint: Sonic's design. However, when the first trailer for the movie dropped on April 4th, 2019, the internet backlash came out full swing.

Sonic's design from the video game series (top) vs. a screenshot of Sonic from the first trailer for the movie.

Now let me start with this: video game fans will look a gift horse in the mouth and are very vocal about their grievances, whether small or large. So naturally, the backlash from the proposed design was strong, swift, and with a vengeance, and boy did they let Paramount, the directors, and everyone involved with the movie have it, with some of them being incredibly funny.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2019) pic.twitter.com/MwUVUZyBdg

— Stephen Schulze (@Jackablade) April 30, 2019

Dystopian Horror movie featuring anthropomorphic cocaine addict Sonic Hedgehog expected to break records as movie-going audiences are generally idiots. pic.twitter.com/00yIXjhNwH

— DPRK News Service (@DPRK_News) April 30, 2019

sonic the hedgehog (2019), character design planning meeting pic.twitter.com/YSFcB9HKrI

— alexis nedd (@alexisthenedd) April 30, 2019

No words required #Sonic pic.twitter.com/n1VG2HhmZj

— Gareth Wild (@GarethWild) April 30, 2019

So yes, while some of these were genuinely funny there were other not very kind responses via social media, that I wont post on this blog. Sonic is more than a video game or a hobby to some fans. He is the head of a cult for some. All in all, fans were not happy about the design of the sonic character and voiced their displeasure.Fast forward to the following month (May of this year for those playing at home), because the response was SO strong, Paramount announced that they had decided to delay the movies release date by a full three months (from originally November 2019 to February 2020) with the sole purpose of making changes to Sonic's design. As small a gesture as this may sound, it is actually quite something because, the holiday season is a very profitable release window for studios to release movies in, and to push back the date to mid February, Paramount might actually take a loss on the film as they spend more money to redesign Sonic.
All in all, I was fascinated by everything that was transpiring as Paramount announced actually making changes to the movie, even though it was almost fully completed. From my experience and understanding, fans and consumers will complain and companies will do nothing more often than not. Especially with movies. I feel that in most situations, the studio, director, cast, and producers will stand by their creative ideas and move forward, criticism be damned! However, with this, the studio heard the feedback, and rather than digging their heels in, they actually listened and hopefully gained some good will with their consumers. Me personally, I don't really care for Sonic's video game franchise and I had no plans to see the movie. However, after all of this, I will WITHOUT A DOUBT buy a ticket to see what they came up with in response to the backlash. 
Furthermore, it's interesting even more interesting when you evaluate the value proposition that Paramount offers with this film. They own the license to the character and Sonic franchise when it comes to distributing and making feature films in the future, and if successful, it's not entirely unreasonable to imagine Paramount making a cinematic universe with this license. To die hard Sonic fans that I have talked to, they were going to see this movie, regardless of their feelings with the Sonic design, and Paramount could have honestly done nothing and distributed as intended and likely would have still made a profit. However, because they are making these changes, they are likely adding to their value proposition to fans of the franchise and others alike, as one of the few movie studios that actually listens to their fans. By making these changes and sacrificing a sizable amount of money to make a quality product, this could in fact actually bring in a lot of money for the company just based on good will from consumers.Now obviously, Paramount's internal message is for the purpose of trying to promote and sell a movie ticket to each of us. And naturally there were questions being asked through all of the backlash being received. How to convince consumers that Paramount is a trust-able studio with the Sonic franchise? How could they convince fans that they don't just want to sell them a ticket but that they actually care for their consumers desires? And arguably the most important one, how do we relate to them in the process? However, with the release date being pushed back and the changes to the design of Sonic, these questions were essentially answered by the company. I think the biggest message that Paramount is trying to relay to consumers is that they are attempting to do right by the fans and right by the franchise itself. In essence, I believe that Paramount is hoping that fans will see the studio a part of the community rather than just attempting to profit from it and will respects the material that they are working with, as well as the community that has consumed it for nearly 30 years.I personally believe that Paramount's decision to not only listen to feedback from the consumers, but to also implement that feedback, was a very wise move by the company for this film and future films they distribute. Fans will likely look back on the company remembering what Paramount had done for their community as a whole with these changes and that might just convince them to buy movie tickets to other Paramount films in the future.However, this is where I am going to break with my applause for Paramount and admit my own logical and analytical tendencies. I'm not going to lie, I am not sure I would have been as willing to sink more money into changing the design of Sonic. To me, time costs money and no time is more important than right now. Now granted, I also wouldn't have made Sonic's design as ugly as sin in the first place, but regardless of how he looked originally, I cant say that I would have done the same and I admit that I would likely be unwise in doing so. Sometimes there are times to listen to fan backlash but there are indeed times where I believe a company needs to focus on making that almighty dollar more than conceding to fan desires. So again, I am very interested in seeing what happens from here and I do admit that I learned a lesson in meekness and humility within the business setting. Not all business has to involve dollars but sense as well and while the entire story hasn't been told, we do know that by March of 2020, there will be a conclusion to this tale. In the entertainment industry, it ain't over till the fat lady sings. The only thing left to tell is: will fans and non-fans alike come to the theater after raging about something over twitter and other forms of social media a year prior? Will the response of Paramount be justified and will they in the end benefit because of the changes to Sonic's design? I can only speak for myself but I know I will justify Paramount's decision to listen to consumers and buy that ticket. I will be the first one in line.