By hook or by crook, even with new owners Skydance bound to take over Paramount this year, there will be a fourth Sonic the Hedgehog with the studio dating it for March 19, 2027.
That’s a week before the Easter holiday for those keeping track. The news comes in the wake of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 becoming the highest installment in the franchise with $218.8M domestic, $425M worldwide. The entire SEGA branded feature franchise counts $1.1 billion at the global box office.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 opened to No. 1 domestically, for two consecutive weeks, and debuted at No. 1 in over 30 markets including the U.K., Mexico, Italy, and Australia. The threequel has driven over $180M in global consumer spending from home entertainment rentals and purchases.
The project is in development at this point time. There are no director or star attachments at this time.
Jeff Fowler has directed the trilogy to date. Jim Carrey plays Dr. Robotnik, Ben Schwartz is the voice of Sonic, Idris Elba is the voice of Knuckles, and Keanu Reeves just took on the voice of Shadow. James Marsden and Tika Sumpter also star.
The only other studio with a wide release on March 19, 2027 is Universal with an untitled film. An untitled Warner Bros Legendary Monterverse movie is set for Easter weekend, March 26 release that year.
While studios have dated a ton of weekends with untitled releases, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is among a few hard titles scheduled so far. In 2027, there’s also Avengers: Secret Wars (May 7), the animated Warner Bros movies Bad Fairies (July 23) and Margie Claus (Nov. 5) and Frozen 3 on Nov. 24.