The official release date of the third live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie is Dec. 20, 2024, according to director Jeff Fowler, who also gave a new sneak peek at fan-favorite character Shadow the Hedgehog and a new logo.
Fowler, the director of the first two Sonic movies as well, confirmed the release date and shared a photo of Shadow’s model on Twitter on Nov. 29, specifically the stand-in real-life model rather than the CGI one that will be featured in the movie.
It only shows Shadow from the waist down, but he otherwise looks exactly like his game counterpart, although his air skates are far more detailed. Shadow did make a cameo appearance in the last movie’s post-credits scene, but I imagine he’ll have undergone some slight design tweaks for the third movie, which is why Fowler hasn’t shown his face.
If you look closely at the clapperboard next to Shadow, you’ll also see a new version of the movie’s logo. It’s mostly unchanged from the original (Sonic’s name in blue while the three is colored red), but there are now curved stripes above and below it. The stripes above are blue while the ones below are black with red highlights, obviously meant to mirror Sonic and Shadow. This also makes it resemble the logo for Sonic Adventure 2, the game that introduced Shadow to the franchise.
HOLY SHIT pic.twitter.com/uougV4MdBT
— ☃️❄️ Random_Guy ❄️☃️ (@caioe1923) November 29, 2023
It was always safe to assume the third movie would take inspiration from SA2 given the Shadow tease and the introduction of G.U.N. (the Guardian Units of Nations and a key organization in SA2) in the second movie. The logo similarities, though, may suggest that the game is serving as the blueprint of the movie’s story.
That means Shadow could sport a similar if not identical backstory, seeking revenge against all of humanity for the death of his close friend Maria. Could we actually see the topic of child murder be touched upon in a Sonic the Hedgehog movie? Perhaps we’ll even get to see the Space Colony Ark and the Eclipse Cannon factor into the story given their ties to Shadow. In fact, while the set backdrop in Fowler’s photo is blurry, it could very well come from the Ark or at least a G.U.N. base of some kind.
All that matters, though, is that Crush 40 be brought in to perform “Live & Learn” for the movie’s climax. If that doesn’t happen, what was even the point?
