Coming Soon To A Theater Near You: ‘Sonic 3,’ Smurfs Musical Get Release Dates

Paramount has set the theatrical release dates for two upcoming animated features: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and the recently announced Smurfs musical.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will open wide on December 20, 2024. That release date will come two-and-a-half years after Sonic 2 sprinted into theaters, collecting $190.8 million domestic as part of its $402.2m global take. Those numbers were the highest domestic total ever for a video game adaptation, and number four globally.

Whether or not the third film in the franchise can reach similar heights is hard to predict this far out, but we do know that Sonic won’t be the only blue cg protagonist in theaters over the 2024 holiday season. James Cameron’s Avatar 3 is scheduled to release at the same time, and sure to pose a more substantial competitor at the box office than Sonic 2 saw in Michael Bay’s The Ambulance or the Spider-Man villain spinoff Morbius.

Meanwhile, Paramount has locked in any true romantic’s plans for Valentine’s Day 2025 in picking a February 14 release for the Chris Miller-directed Smurfs musical. We’re still waiting on official confirmation of who will handle animation for the film, but Sony Pictures Imageworks held that responsibility on the cg hybrids and the fully-animated Smurfs: The Lost Village.