After two and a half years of waiting and speculating, the long-awaited Sonic 3 is finally available to watch in theatres. The film was released on Dec. 20, 2024, almost three years after the release of Sonic 2. With all of its highly anticipated success, the movie is flourishing.
As of Jan. 2025, the movie has made just over $440 million at the worldwide box office. After only a month of being in theatres, Sonic 3 has climbed its way up to the top movies of 2024 for box office earnings. According to IMDb, the film’s average rating in the United States was 7.2/10. Furthermore, it was 86% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. While these standings may be true, people may have different opinions about Sonic 3. When asked about the movie, Hailey Schlesinger, Freshman, said, “It’s a very good movie…It made me want to keep watching, but it wasn’t as good as the first movies.” Additionally, she adds that she would rate it at about 7.5/10.
Sonic 3 is an exciting threequel, based on the 2001 video game, Sonic Adventure 2. Just like any other movie and game series, the two have many differences and many similarities. The most apparent difference between the movie and the game is that Rogue the Bat does not appear in the movie. In Sonic Adventure 2, Rogue is an important character, playing the part of Shadow’s partner. Another major difference between the two works is Shadow’s backstory. In Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow is created by humans. However, in Sonic 3, Shadow’s backstory shows him as an alien, and reveals that he was found on Earth 50 years before the movie takes place. Some of the similarities between the film and the video game include the scenes, the characters, and most of the plot.
Just like the game it was inspired by, Sonic 3 is a thrilling and adventurous film following Sonic and his two best friends, Knuckles and Tails. The trio faces Shadow, the main antagonist, for the first time after he destroys Tokyo City. They realize that all of their powers combined are unmatched to Shadow’s. They seek help from Dr. Robotnik, teaming up with him to suppress Shadow’s abilities. While investigating the old and abandoned GUN building, Dr. Robotnik meets his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. Eventually, it is too late before Sonic and his friends finally reveal that Robotnik is planning to betray them, along with his new alliance, Shadow. Although, in the end, they all join forces to try and save Earth.
Like the first two movies, Sonic 3 has lots of hidden pop culture references and easter eggs throughout the movie. For instance, Sonic mutters the words “1.21 gigawatts…” while Tails and Knuckles are helping him stand up. This is a reference to Back to the Future, a film from 1985. Another example is when Sonic says “John, Paul, George, the other one…” while he recreates The Beatles album cover on Abbey Road in London.
At the very end of Sonic 3, in the post-credit scene, it shows a teaser for its next film. We see Sonic being attacked by many robots, appearing to be Metal Sonic. However, he gets saved by another character that got left out of Sonic 3. This character happens to be Amy Rose. These two characters are both introduced in Sonic CD.
As a result, the next Sonic film is claimed to be centered on Sonic CD. Sonic 4 is now confirmed and is set to be released in theatres on Mar. 19, 2027. Amy and Metal Sonic will be important characters in the movie. The film is said to be focusing on time travel, and it could be inspired by Sonic CD’s time travel mechanic.
