The most famous and fastest hedgehog in the world, Sonic, will return to the big screen in 2024. However, at this moment, he is being overshadowed by another big name joining the franchise: Keanu Reeves.
O John Wick It is Headquarters star supposedly joined the cast from the next film Sonic the Hedgehog 3, voicing the character Shadow the Hedgehog. Trailer footage premiered at CinemaCon on April 11 during a Paramount presentation.
Shadow, as the name suggests, is a dark and edgy character seen by many as an anti-hero with powers similar to Sonic’s.
‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’: Who’s in it and what’s it about?
Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to the world in 1991 in his own 16-bit game for the Sega Genesis game console. (If you remember this time, don’t worry, you’re not alone.) Shadow was created for video games 10 years later in Sonic Adventure 2.
He now makes his film debut with Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Returning to the film are director Jeff Fowler and live-action stars James Marsden as Tom Wachowski and Tika Sumpter, who plays his wife, Maddie.
Footage shown by Paramount at CinemaCon showed a depressed and out-of-shape Dr. Robotnik, played by Jim Carrey (who is more in keeping with the video game character’s brand). He is unhappy due to the events of Sonic 2 but gets a power boost when he creates Shadow the Hedgehog, who faces off against the titular character.
Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba) also appeared on screen during the clip as they teamed up against Shadow.
The film will hit theaters on December 20th and will eventually be released on Paramount+ for streaming.
sonic It struck cinematic gold twice. Will it be repeated a third time?
The franchise is one of Paramount’s most successful, with a combined global box office worth around US$725 million for Sonic the Hedgehog ($320 million globally) and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ($405 million globally). This is especially impressive because films adapted into video games don’t always perform well.
Reeves has had his own box office hits lately, most recently with John Wick: Chapter 4 in 2023.
In 2021, he returned to his iconic role of Neo for Matrix: Resurrections. Two years earlier, he made a streaming appearance with an epic cameo in the Netflix hit Always be my maybe.
He will next return as John Wick in a spin-off of the series, Ballet dancer, starring Ana de Armas. He will also play a guardian angel in Good lucka film by Aziz Ansari.
There’s another Sonic project in the works starring Knuckles
Fans who can’t get enough of the Sonic franchise and its characters won’t have to wait until December for its next iteration.
Knuckles, a six-episode television series, will arrive on the Paramount+ streaming service on April 26 and will feature the famous echidna. Elba will also voice the television version of the character.
Knuckles has always been an emerging star of the sonic games and now wins his first series.
How the sonic films, the series will combine live action and animation to bring the world of Sonic the Hedgehog franchise for the streaming service.
Because the two are connected, Knuckles will feature many of the actors from the film franchise, who will reprise their roles in the spin-off.
Knuckles, who originated as an enemy of Sonic and Tails, will join forces with them after learning about Dr. Robotnik’s true plans. In the series, Knuckles now lives with the same human family as Sonic and Tails and will embark on his own journey to remove a new threat.
Christopher Lloyd (Back to the future) will join the cast as the voice of Pachacamac, an elderly echidna who is the former leader of the echidna tribe’s warlords.
Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi) and Ellie Taylor (Ted Lasso) will play the human characters, agents Mason and Willoughby, respectively.
Knuckles streams on Paramount+ April 26.
