Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2020 action-adventure comedy film based on the Sonic video game series. The first in the Sonic film series, it was directed by Jeff Fowler (in his feature film directorial debut), written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, and stars James Marsden and Jim Carrey. Ben Schwartz voices Sonic, a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds and teams up with small town sheriff Tom Wachowski to stop the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik from taking over the world.

Development for a Sonic film began in the 1990s but did not leave the planning stage until Sony Pictures acquired the film rights in 2013. Fowler was brought in to direct in 2016. After Sony put the project in turnaround, Paramount Pictures acquired it in 2017. Most of the cast signed on by August 2018. Principal photography took place between September and October that year in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island, with a release date set for November 8, 2019. Following the negative reaction to the first trailer released in April 2019, especially regarding Sonic's design, Paramount delayed the film by three months to redesign Sonic as to more resemble his video game design.

Sonic the Hedgehog premiered at the Paramount Pictures studio lot on January 25, 2020. It was theatrically released in the United States on February 14 and in Japan on June 26, and received mixed reviews. It set the record for the biggest opening weekend for a video game film in the United States and Canada and grossed $320 million worldwide, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 2020 and the highest-grossing video game film adaptation in North America.

The film spawned a franchise, consisting of two sequels, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024), and a Paramount+ miniseries, Knuckles (2024). A fourth film is due to be released in 2027.