Sonic the Hedgehog 4 has set its release date just days after the franchise's third instalment broke a new record.
Deadline reports that the fourth film will land in cinemas on March 19, 2027, a week before the Easter holiday weekend.
The film is still in its developmental stage with no director or stars attached yet; however, Jeff Fowler has helmed each instalment of the franchise so far with Ben Schwartz voicing Sonic.
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Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was first reported by Variety in December ahead of the third movie's release.
The news was later confirmed by Schwartz on X/Twitter who shared a screenshot of the article and wrote: "THIS. IS. NOT. A. DRILL. SONIC 4. 2027.AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!".
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Earlier this week Sonic 3 became the highest-grossing film of the entire series after taking $420 million at the global box office.
Sonic 2 managed $405 million at the global box office, while Sonic 1 made a worldwide total of $320 million – no wonder a fourth movie is coming.
Sonic 3 saw the iconic video game character face off against Shadow (voiced by the equally iconic Keanu Reeves) as well as his constant antagonist Dr Robotnik, played by Jim Carrey.
The film's ending seemed to be the end for Shadow as well as Robotnik; however, post-credit scenes revealed that Reeves' character survived.
Speaking about the fate of Carrey's character, the film's writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller confirmed last month that he is "completely dead… maybe."
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Miller told GamesRadar: "We hope that they make a zillion of these, and who knows, by Sonic The Hedgehog 8… like with the Fast & Furious franchise, that’s demonstrated that nobody really needs to stay dead if you don’t want to."
Casey added: "I would say 'of course he’s dead, it was a space explosion, he’s completely dead… unless, maybe…' That all depends on Jim, I think.
"It's a very short list of actors who could have pulled this off, possibly there's only one name on it. Like, comedy is hard."
Sonic 3 is out digitally in the US now. In the UK you can pre-order Sonic 3 in the UK via Prime Video and iTunes
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Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.
After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.
Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.
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