‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ To Speed Into Cinemas December 20, 2024
Paramount Pictures has locked the release date of the third Sonic the Hedgehog movie for December 20, 2024.
This means that James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, and the rest of the cast, will be back for their next adventure the same day that Disney and 20th Century Studios are planning to release Avatar 3. The studio is then shifting its release strategy to release Sonic 3 over the holiday season, to try to appeal to as many families as possible.
The first movie was released in February 2020, a month before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all cinemas worldwide, and yet it still managed to make over $300M at the global box office. The second movie, released in April 2022, surpassed the first movie with $400M worldwide. The studio is clearly confident with a two-year window between movies, and the push back to late 2024 could be due to the bottleneck effect that the entire VFX industry is going through, which is producing a lot of delays and unfinished turn-ins. Still, it’s surprising that the studio opted for a Christmas release instead of waiting for a less competitive time two or three months later.
That being said, Paramount will probably be playing close attention to what happens this Christmas, when Warner Bros. is supposed to face off against the mighty James Cameron, when Shazam! Fury of the Gods opens five days after Avatar: The Way of Water bows in theaters worldwide. While there have been rumors lately that the movie might be pushed back, no official announcement has been made yet.
Sonic has proven to be a very valuable IP for Paramount, a studio that is desperately looking for its next franchise. The third movie was greenlit even before Sonic 2 opened in theaters. In addition, the studio is also in development of a live-action spin-off show centered around Knuckles, that will be released on Paramount Plus in late 2023. Idris Elba is expected to reprise the role.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
