Sonic The Hedgehog Movie In The Works At Paramount

Gotta go fast…and in this case, it's to the box office.

Considering that Sonic the Hedgehog is already speeding his way towards a return to gaming with the retro-fied Sonic Mania now available and Sonic Forces coming next month, it shouldn't be a surprise that he's getting his own movie as well.

Variety has just reported that Paramount Pictures has managed to get the movie rights for the popular Sega video game franchise, and has tapped Neal H. Moritz of Original Film (who's currently on a first look deal with Paramount) who will be on board as producer.

Sony originally had tabs on the project, but then put it into turnaround, making the rights available.

That said, alongside Moritz, a number of the people that were behind the Sony project will still be involved, including Deadpool director Tim Miller, who will be on board as executive producer, alongside longtime Blur Studio collaborator Jeff Fowler, who will direct. Toby Ascher, Dmitri Johnson and Dan Jevons will serve as executive producers.

It looks like the studio will attempt to make the Sonic movie be a mixture of live-action and CGI animation, which we've seen before with a number of efforts, including award-winning films like Avatar. How well will this approach work with this particular blue hero?

There's no word yet on what era the Sonic the Hedgehog film will focus on, since there are so many franchises, like the original Sonic, Sonic Boom and Sonic Forces to choose from. But it appears the team might take the conventional route, with the Hedgehog taking on his adversary Dr. Robotnik with the help of his cohorts, Tails and Knuckles, amongst others. The story hasn't been finalized yet, though, so we'll see what happens.

Sonic the Hedgehog was previously teased in the film Wreck-It Ralph!, in which his character was seen in the game hall, promoting safety. There was talk that he would have a bigger role in the sequel, coming to theaters next year, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

The Sonic film doesn't have a release date yet, but we'll have more information soon. In the meantime, Sonic Mania is available now, and Sonic Forces releases on November 7th for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC.