Sonic the Hedgehog 3 hit theaters late last month and has already grossed more than $300 million worldwide, pushing the film series based on Sega’s popular video games past the one-billion mark and making it one of Paramount’s biggest ongoing franchises.
On January 5, Paramount Pictures put out a press release confirming that the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise has now made over $1 billion at the box office. That means it’s made more than Halloween, Paranormal Activity, and A Quiet Place.
For Paramount, Sonic has become a very important franchise at a time when the studio has struggled to squeeze massive blockbusters out of past winners, like Transformers and Star Trek. So it’s not shocking that as Sonic crosses the 1-billion-dollar mark, Paramount is already working on a sequel. The next movie is reportedly arriving in 2027.
“The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has become an unstoppable cultural force with limitless potential,” said Paramount Pictures President & CEO Brian Robbins. “Congratulations to our partners at SEGA, our filmmaking team…who have revolutionized the heights that Sonic can reach, and the legions of loyal and devoted fans who have helped guide us every step of the way.”
It feels like a lifetime ago when the first Sonic the Hedgehog film teaser hit the web and we all got to see that original, ugly CG Sonic that was so monstrous, fans backlashed hard enough to force Paramount and Sega to change the character’s look into something less awful. That first film ended up making $319 million at the box office.
In 2022, Sonic 2 hit theaters, receiving better reviews and making over $400 million. There was a Knuckles spin-off TV show in early 2024, but nobody talks about that. Then finally, in December, Paramount released Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which is one of the highest-rated video game movies in history and has already made more money than the first film in just about two weeks. Pretty good for a hedgehog that runs really fast.
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