Growing up, the console war was simple: you were either a Sega Genesis kid or a Super Nintendo kid, and by extension, you were either Team Sonic or Team Mario. That rivalry defined an era of gaming and playground arguments that will never be replicated. All these years later, Sega is long out of the hardware business, but Sonic and Mario have found a completely different battlefield: movie theaters. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hits theaters on April 1, and today, exactly one year before its March 19, 2027 release, Paramount dropped the first teaser for Sonic the Hedgehog 4.
It’s still wild to think about how far the Sonic movie franchise has come. When that original design leaked and “Ugly Sonic” became a meme that nearly torpedoed the entire project, nobody could have predicted we’d be sitting here talking about a fourth film. The teaser opens with Amy Rose’s hammer shattering through to reveal the Chaos Emeralds, followed by Jim Carrey’s unmistakable voice as Dr. Robotnik. The trailer also gives glimpses of Metal Sonic, who appears to be a major antagonist this time around. Carrey’s return is notable considering how many times he’s talked about retiring from acting, but the Sonic franchise keeps pulling him back.
Ben Schwartz, who voices Sonic, confirmed the full cast on social media. Returning alongside Schwartz and Carrey are Idris Elba as Knuckles, Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Tails, Keanu Reeves as Shadow, James Marsden and Tika Sumpter as Tom and Maddie, Lee Majdoub, and Kristen Bell as Amy Rose. New additions to the franchise include Ben Kingsley, Matt Berry, Nick Offerman, and Richard Ayoade in undisclosed roles. Jeff Fowler returns to direct. Paramount has also already dated an untitled Sonic universe film for December 22, 2028, so this franchise isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
If you had told me as a kid arguing about Sonic vs. Mario on the playground that one day, 30 years later, they’d both be major movie franchises competing for box office dollars, I would have thought you were out of your mind. Yet here we are, and honestly, both sides are winning.
