Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Shadow Makes Big Screen Debut at CinemaCon

Exhibitors at CinemaCon got the first-ever look at “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” which will see the blue speedster come face-to-face with his famous rival, Shadow.

In a brief teaser, we see Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, utterly ruined after being defeated by Sonic yet again. But he finds a new way to defeat that infernal hedgehog when his assistant Stone (Lee Majdoub) discovers the fearsome Shadow the Hedgehog, whom Knuckles, played by Idris Elba, describes as “much more impressive than the hedgehog I fought previously.”

Introduced in the video game “Sonic Adventure 2” in 2001, Shadow has become one of the most popular characters in the Sonic series. Originally a villain, as in the film, he’s since become an antihero who sometimes is at odds with Sonic about how to fight Dr. Eggman.

Ben Schwartz, Colleen O’Shaughnessey and Elba will return to play the voices of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, but there’s still no word yet on who will voice Shadow, even though the film just finished production.

Prior to the release of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” held the record for the highest-grossing video game film ever with $405 million worldwide, becoming the first big hit family film since the pandemic shut down theaters. Since then, the video game movie craze has only gotten bigger with hits like “Mario” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”

Now, Paramount is committing Sonic to the lucrative and competitive holiday season, where it will be going up against films like Disney’s “Mufasa,” a prequel to “The Lion King” made in the same style as the 2019 CGI remake.

“Sonic 3” will hit theaters Dec. 20.