As part of CinemaCon 2024 today, several upcoming Paramount Pictures movies received some trailers that aired exclusively for attendees. While we’ll likely get to see these trailers online in the coming weeks, we have audience reactions to go off of for now. For Sonic the Hedgehog 3, there seem to be a few things that longtime fans of the series will be thrilled to see, namely “Fat Robotnik.”
.@SonicMovie just wrapped and we are now getting a first look at the film! @ParamountPics #CinemaCon2024
— CinemaCon (@CinemaCon) April 11, 2024
In a brief teaser trailer, fans get their first look at the latest iteration of Jim Carrey’s Robotnik and he has reportedly gained weight. After losing to Sonic twice now, he has let his lab fall into disrepair and his hair has become disheveled. His dutiful assistant, Agent Stone, informs Robotnik that they have “found him,” and hands one of Sonic’s quills to the mad doctor. Robotnik licks it, jolts a bit, then yells, “Let’s do this!” Cue a montage of Robotnik cleaning himself up to look even more video game-accurate. The teaser then cuts to Robotnik with a small army of badniks waking up Shadow the Hedgehog from cryogenic status. Shadow quickly opens his eyes, which are glowing bright red.
Back in the town of Green Hills, we see Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles facing off against Shadow in the middle of some city street at nighttime. While Shadow remains tight-lipped throughout the trailer, Knuckles still lets his mouth run and proclaims that this new hedgehog is a lot stronger than the last one he squared off with. Sonic laughingly replies, “You mean me?”
From there, the trailer transitions to Shadow riding a motorcycle over skyscrapers to close in on Sonic, who is charging at him at full speed. Sonic clashes with Shadow and there is a shot of blue energy reflecting and crashing against red energy in the night sky. Lastly, the trailer reveals that at some point during the film, Sonic and Robotnik will be transported to the outskirts of Green Hills via a ring portal. The two will likely need to cooperate to take down the greater threat, i.e. Shadow.
We imagine the scene looked something like this:
None of this sounds exactly original, but the Sonic the Hedgehog films have been pretty good about establishing character dynamics and letting the comedy naturally flow from there. I worry that introducing Shadow might convolute things a bit too much, but the previous film managed to introduce new characters without overwhelming the existing ones. The action sounds exciting, which should make for a solid holiday film.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is currently planned for a theatrical release on December 20, 2024
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
