Sonic’s third movie has a release date, but will Jim Carrey return?

The third Sonic the Hedgehog movie has been given a release date: Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles will return to theaters in a film presumably called Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on Dec. 20, 2024.

The series is sticking to its schedule of releasing every two years, then, although this third installment is shifting from the springtime launch-pads of the previous two entries to a winter holiday slot.

This is a gesture of confidence from studio Paramount, which was delighted with the success of Sonic 2. The sequel, released in April 2022, has surpassed its predecessor to become the most successful video game movie of all time. Paramount is surely hoping the holiday family market will bring even greater rewards third time around.

No details of the cast or creative team have been released. The previous two films were written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, directed by Jeff Fowler, and starred Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Tails, Idris Elba as Knuckles, and James Marsden and Tika Sumpter as Sonic’s “parents.” All can fairly safely be expected to return.

The biggest question mark will be over Jim Carrey’s role as Doctor Robotnik. The star told Access Hollywood that he was “fairly serious” about retiring from acting after appearing in Sonic 2. “I really like my quiet life, and I really like putting paint on canvas,” he said. “And I really love my spiritual life. And I feel like, and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists, I have enough. I’ve done enough. I am enough.”

The film’s producers told IGN that they “wouldn’t even try” to recast Robotnik with another actor and that “Jim Carrey is always a member of the Sonic family and he’ll always have a place in these movies and TV shows as long as he’d like to be around.”

Carrey, who has taken extended breaks in his career before, did say he would consider returning for “some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see.” It’s fair to assume that he wasn’t talking about the likes of Sonic 3 here, whatever its eventual qualities. But after the runaway success of the first two films, Paramount will be willing to break the bank to persuade him otherwise.