Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Release Date Set for December 2024

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is coming in late 2024.

The release date for the third Sonic the Hedgehog movie has been unveiled by Paramount Pictures. At the same time, Paramount has pushed back the date for its untitled Smurfs animated musical.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will release on December 20, 2024, with the newest Smurfs movie moved to February 14, 2025, having previously been set to unspool on the date now claimed by the former film.

While Sonic will open against James Cameron's as-yet untitled Avatar 3, it's not yet clear what kind of box-office competition the new Smurfs pic has in store.

Based on the beloved video game franchise from Sega, Paramount's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise launched with a 2020 film of the same name.

In it, a small-town police officer (James Marsden) helped the titular blue hedgehog (voiced by Ben Schwartz) contend with Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), an evil genius looking to make him the subject of his experiments.

Jeff Fowler directed that movie from a script by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, with the film ultimately grossing over $319.7 million (about Rs. 2,540 crore) worldwide.

The sequel — simply titled Sonic the Hedgehog 2 — hit theatres in April earlier this year, with Idris Elba joining the fray as the voice of Knuckles.

Elba's Knuckles partnered the returning Dr. Robotnik as they searched for an emerald that has the power to both build and destroy civilisations.

Fowler, Casey, and Miller also returned in their capacities on Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which went on to out-gross the original, at over $400 million (about Rs. 3,180 crore) worldwide.

As for the Smurfs musical, it's interesting that the property is at Paramount now.

While multiple Smurfs films, based on the Belgian comics, have been made in recent memory — including The Smurfs, The Smurfs 2, and Smurfs: The Lost Village — those projects hailed from Sony.