Paramount Pulls Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and The Lost City From Releasing in Russia

Studios continue to pull their theatrical films from Russia in the wake of the Ukraine attacks. Several major studios have already nixed their upcoming premieres from the country and now Paramount Pictures is following suit. On Tuesday, Paramount announced that its next two theatrical projects will be pulled from release in Russia. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and The Lost City are set for world premieres in the next two months, but Russia won't be among the markets where they're made available.

"As we witness the ongoing tragedy in Ukraine, we have decided to pause the theatrical release of our upcoming films in Russia, including The Lost City, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2," Paramount said in a statement on Tuesday morning. "We stand by all those impacted by the humanitarian crisis across Ukraine, Russia, and our international markets and will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds."

The theatrical exodus from Russia kicked into high gear on Monday, when three of the industry's most prominent studios announced a halt in upcoming releases in the country. Disney first announced that all upcoming releases would be paused in Russia, starting with Pixar's Turning Red. Then, Warner Bros. pulled the release of The Batman, perhaps the biggest film on its calendar. Monday ended with Sony Pictures halting releases in Russia, including the April debut of Marvel's Morbius.

"Given the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis, we are pausing the release of theatrical films in Russia, including the upcoming Turning Red from Pixar," Disney said in a statement. "We will make future business decisions based on the evolving situation. In the meantime, given the scale of the emerging refugee crisis, we are working with our NGO partners to provide urgent aid and other humanitarian assistance to refugees."

At this point, the majority of major Hollywood releases have been pulled from Russia for the immediate future. 

Paramount's The Lost City will hit theaters here in North America on March 25th. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will follow on April 8th.