Sonic the Hedgehog[b] is a 2020 action-adventure comedy film based on the video game series published by Sega. Directed by Jeff Fowler (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, it stars Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, alongside James Marsden, Jim Carrey, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, Lee Majdoub, Neal McDonough, and Tika Sumpter. The film follows Sonic (voiced by Schwartz), a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds. He teams up with a town sheriff, Tom Wachowski (Marsden), to stop the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (Carrey). Development for a Sonic film began in the 1990s but did not leave the planning stage until Sony Pictures acquired the rights in 2013. Fowler was brought in to direct in 2016. After Sony put the project in turnaround, Paramount Pictures acquired it in 2017. Most of the cast signed on by August 2018, and principal filming took place between September and October that year in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. Following the negative reaction to the first trailer's reveal of Sonic's appearance in April 2019, Paramount delayed the film release by three months to redesign Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog premiered at the Paramount Pictures studio lot on January 25, 2020, before its theatrical release in the United States on February 14, and received generally mixed reviews from critics. It set the record for the biggest opening weekend for a video game film in the United States and Canada and grossed $319.7 million worldwide, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 2020, and was the highest-grossing video game film adaptation of all time in North America until it was surpassed by its sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022). A third film, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, is scheduled for release in 2024. A spin-off miniseries Knuckles starring Idris Elba is scheduled to premiere on Paramount+ in early 2024.