Paramount is preparing for a Christmas boom.
The studio announced Monday that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will open in theaters on Dec. 20, 2024.
Earlier this year, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 opened to a huge $72.1 million in a major boost for the domestic box office recovery, and particularly for family films. The movie went on to gross more than $401 million at the worldwide box office, a tidy sum considering the recovery was just getting started in earnest.
Sonic 2 was one of the few films of the COVID-19 era to open ahead of its predecessor. Other bragging rights: It is scored the biggest launch of all time for a video game adaptation, beating the first Sonic, and was also Paramount’s biggest three-day opening since 2014.
The film franchise stars James Marsden, Jim Carrey and Ben Schwartz.
Sonic 3 will face competition from James Cameron’s Avatar 3, which is presently set to open over the year-end holidays in 2024 (the Avatar sequels have moved around numerous times).
In a twinned move, Paramount also announced that its untitled Smurfs animated musical, which was previously set to open in cinemas on Dec. 20, 2024, will instead open on Feb. 14, 2025.
