The Sonic the Hedgehog Movie

The Sonic the Hedgehog Movie is 2026 upcoming computer-animated adventure comedy film, produced by Goanimate Animation and Marza Animation Planet in collabration with Sega Sammy Group for Paramount Pictures.

Originally planned for the December 19, 2025 release date, *The Sonic the Hedgehog Movie* was scheduled to be released in the United States on June 19, 2026 and in Japan on July 31. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics, praising the animation, characters, heartwarming message about the meaning of the family, story and use of references to the Sega games, but criticizing the script and lack of pacing.

It was the last film for Guy Richard as an screenwriter and an executive producer before he left Paramount Animation and Goanimate Animation six months after its release after being accused of sexual misconduct in November 2025.

## Voice cast

* Dane Cook as Sonic the Hedgehog, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds, but cannot swim.
* Mason Wertheimer as Miles ''Tails'' Prower, an anthropomorphic yellow-orange fox who can fly with his twin-tails and Sonic's best friend.
* Jason Momoa as Knuckles the Echidna, an anthropomorphic red echidna warrior with super strength. He is serious, aggressive, and quick-tempered, but has a strong sense of honor.
* Daniel Matamoros Jr. as Doctor Eggman
* Anna Kendrick as Amy Rose
* Richard Ayoade as Scratch
* Danny McBride as Grounder
* Adam James Sanderson as Joey Pansfluiter
* Nova Lee LeClair as Anna Pansfluiter
* Josh Gad as Hop, a lovable, cute and funny goat with his incredible appetite.
* Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots, a spanish brave hero cat with the boots and a sword.
* Steve Carell as Enerkito, a blue energetic and funny rat.
* Arnold Gelderman as Eduardo Pansfluiter, an macaw who is Tom and Bob's father and Joey and Anna's macaw grandfather.
* Will Ferrell as Tom Pansfluiter, Gina's husband and Joey and Anna's kind father.
* Drew Barrymore as Gina Pansfluiter, Tom's wife and Joey and Anna's loving, sweet and supporting mom.
* Roger Craig Smith - Surprise cameos

Joey and Anna's uncles and aunt (Bob, Bruno, Rushdie, Jackie and Jennie) are voiced by Brad Garrett, Bruno Mars, Owen Wilson, John Goodman and Amy Poehler, while Joey and Anna's red turkey granduncle Boardbeak was voiced by Dustin Hoffman. In addition, Joey and Anna's friends (Kaito, Luckie, Jayden, Pippa and Bo) are voiced by Cater Young, Louie Chaplin Moss, Yonas Kibreab, Aubree Cantu and Tresi Gazal.

## Production

### Development

To prepare for the film and since the film will take place in Volendam, North Holland in Netherlands, Goanimate Animation and Sega sent several of the film's artists, including Isabella Koelman and Tyson Hesse, to the dutch village of Volendam for a research trip, during which they took photos of the area's landscape and peoples, which it then the set modelers modeled the Volendam village in the CGI-animation look.

### Casting

The announcement was met with a mixed reaction from fans; while some welcomed the idea of celebrity actors voicing the characters, others questioned and criticized the choices, in particular Cook as Sonic instead of Smith (who had voiced the character since 2010).

### Animation and design

The film will be animated by Goanimate Studios Amsterdam in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with the assistance of Marza Animation Planet in Tokyo, Japan. The production was underway by March 2024, with animation work scheduled to end in November 2025.

### Music

During an October 2025 Paramount Direct presentation, Gijsman confirmed that John Powell was set to compose the film's score. Powell worked closely with longtime *Sonic* composer Tee Lopes to incorporate themes from the games.

## Marketing

On November 5, 2025, the teaser trailer was released during the Goanimate Expo event, and it received huge positive reviews from the fans and the auidence, praising the trailer for the visual design, the references to the Sega video games and Josh Gad's performance as Hop the Goat, although some fans criticizes Dane Cook's performance as Sonic the Hedgehog as they called it ''a little bit off from Roger Craig Smith's original voice of Sonic''.

To promote the film, Some worldwide brands like Nestlé, McDonald's, Carrefour, Starbucks Coffee and C&A signed the marketing deals with Paramount Pictures, and Goanimate Store starts selling the film's merchandise in its stores and its webshop on May 17, 2026.

## Release

### Theatrical

*The Sonic the Hedgehog Movie* premiered at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California with the cast and crew in attendance, and was released theatrically in the United States on June 19, 2026, and later in Japan on July 31, in both regular formats and in IMAX 2D and 3D. It will be accompanied theatrically by the Spongebob SquarePants' CGI animated short film *The Bikini Bottom Whimsical*, which marked the first Goanimate Animation feature film to be preceded by a Nickelodeon-produced theatrical short film starring Spongebob.

During the Paramount Direct livestream in September 2024, it was confirmed that the film will be released in theaters on December 19, 2025. However, in April 2025, it got delayed by six months to the current release date of June 19, 2026 (the former of which was taken over by Paramount Animation's *The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants* in response to the film's delay to the later date).

## Reception

### Box office

As of December 1, 2026, *The Sonic the Hedgehog Movie* has grossed $293.5 million in the United States and Canada and $650.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $944.3 million.

In May 2026, Boxoffice Pro projected *The Sonic the Hedgehog Movie* to earn $70-85 million on its 4-day Father's Day opening weekend in North America, culminating in a $175-$279 million domestic total. After grossing $36.8 million on its first day, $32.7 million on its second, and $27.5 million on Father's Day (Sunday, June 21), box office projections were increased to $95–115 million. It went to debut at $97 million in its traditional three-day weekend and $122.1 million over the five-day frame, placing Disney/Pixar's *Elemental 2* ($60.1 million) to its second place and surpasses *Sonic the Hedgehog 2* ($72.1 million) as the highest-grossing Sonic the Hedgehog video game-based movie of all time. According to The Hollywood Reporter, its premiere at De Bodde Film Festival and the screenings during CinemaCon and Dutch Film Festival, the positive auidence reception, word-of-mouth, its huge marketing, lack of competition with other blockbuster films during the summer season and its release during the Father's Day weekend were the reasons behind the film's highly successful opening. The film then earned $61.1 million (a drop of 50%) in its second weekend and $47.9 million (a drop of just 22%) in its third.

In Japan, the film did extremely well at the box office upon its release on July 31, with an opening weekend gross of $25.3 million. The film's Japanese opening weekend surpassed Illumination and Nintendo's *The Super Mario Bros. Movie* ($13.5 million) as 'the highest-grossing video game-based film in Japan'.

As of November 17, 2026, the highest grossing territories were Japan ($125 million), Australia ($100 million), China ($87.2 million), France ($70.3 million), Netherlands ($57.5 million), Italy ($55.2 million), Greece ($50.3 million), the United Kingdom ($46 million), Mexico ($39.2 million) and Germany ($20.1 million).

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 59% are postive, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's consensus reads: ''Although it was thinly plotted and has been little faithful in the source material and its wacky plot, *The Sonic the Hedgehog Movie* led to the teriffic animated action comedy adventure for kids what understands what Sonic and his speed running skills means.'' Despite the Tomatometer score, the movie has 100% auidence score, which was 5% higher than *The Super Mario Bros. Movie* (2023).

### International classficiation ratings for the film

* USA - PG (Some voilence, rude humor, thematic elements and brief mild language)
* Netherlands/Belgium/Waterland - AL (Suitable for all ages)
* Australia/New Zealand - G (Very mild themes, animated violence and coarse language)
* Germany - FSK 0
* United Kingdom - PG