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Sonic the Hedgehog is poised to finally hit theaters this Friday on Valentines Day, and right now the bookies are projecting a big opening weekend for the movie at the domestic box office. More specifically, current box office estimates for the Sega and Paramount movie have it coming in somewhere between $43 and $48 million over the weekend, with a four-day forecast of $50 to $60 million (Update: Those predictions have since been revised to be $45 million to $55 million across three days and $55 to $66 million across four days). Right now, the movie is reportedly trending comparably to Detective Pikachu, and if reviews are favorable, there's a good chance it could crack the top five Presidents Day opening weekends of all time.

As you may know, this is substantially higher than what Birds of Prey came in at recently. The new DC Comics movie is underperforming so far, having only made between $33 to $35 million in its opening weekend after being projected to make $45-60 million. Of course, before it's all said and done, Sonic the Hedgehog could come in lower, but unless reviews aren't great, it likely won't.

As you will know, the market right now favors a family-friendly release. After all, only Dolittle has provided such an experience post-holiday season, and it attracted many viewers despite unfavorable reviews.

If Sonic the Hedgehog goes on to become a big box office success, it will be a complete 180 from its position at reveal last year. Upon reveal, the reception to the movie and its imagination of the iconic video game character was so negative the film was delayed in order for the speedy hedgehog to be redesigned. However, since then, the movie has slowly but surely been shoveling coal into the hype train, which isn't very surprising when considering the fact that everyone loves a good comeback story.

Sonic the Hedgehog is set to drop this Friday. For more news, media, rumors, and leaks on movie, be sure to take a second and peruse all of our past and recent coverage of it by clicking right here. Meanwhile, as always, feel free to drop a comment or two with your thoughts or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. Do you think Sonic will be one of 2020's early smash hits?

H/T, Box Office Pro.