Paramount confirms Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles show

By Tomas Franzese Published February 18, 2022

As part of ViacomCBS Investor Day, the company highlighted the upcoming slate of movies and TV series coming to theaters and Paramount+. One of the day’s most significant announcements was that the popular video game character Sonic the Hedgehog is getting a third film and a spinoff starring Knuckles the Echidna.

#SonicMovie3 is officially in development from @ParamountPics and @SEGA! Plus, next year a new original #Knuckles series with @IdrisElba is coming to #ParamountPlus. #SonicMovie2 hits theaters April 8! pic.twitter.com/M0EM3NNd2p
— Paramount+ (@paramountplus) February 15, 2022

So far, Paramount has partnered with Sega to produce two Sonic the Hedgehog films. The first is notorious for having to redesign its ugly Sonic, but it was actually quite an endearing film in the end that made over $300 million worldwide just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020. The first sequel looks to up the ante with the introduction of a Dr. Eggman more accurate to the games, as well as the debut of Tails and Knuckles.

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Knuckles, in particular, has caused a stir because Idris Elba, a popular and respected actor who is known for his work in Luther and The Suicide Squad, voices him. That positive buzz means it’s not too surprising that Sega and Paramount are developing a live-action Knuckles series for Paramount+. And who knows where the studio will go with a third film? That movie doesn’t have a release date, but Paramount plans to release the Knuckles series in 2023.

Sega’s CEO Haruki Satomi discussed the Japanese company’s partnership with Paramount in a separate statement. “We are delighted to announce that the third Sonic theatrical film and the first live-action Sonic series for Paramount+ are being actively developed,” he said. “We’ve got a remarkable partnership with Paramount, and we are excited to continue expanding the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise with them.” You can check out his complete statement in the following tweet.

A special message about the future of the Sonic franchise from the CEO of SEGA CORPORATION, Haruki Satomi: pic.twitter.com/i3XX5YwsY3
— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) February 15, 2022

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hits theaters on April 8, 2022. Meanwhile, the next game in the series, Sonic Frontiers, will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch later this year.

A former Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese now reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

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Tesla, Warner Bros. dodge some claims in ‘Blade Runner 2049’ lawsuit, copyright battle continues

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Tesla and Warner Bros. scored a partial legal victory as a federal judge dismissed several claims in a lawsuit filed by Alcon Entertainment, a production company behind the 2017 sci-fi movie Blade Runner 2049, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit accused the two companies of using imagery from the film to promote Tesla’s autonomous Cybercab vehicle at an event hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Studios in Hollywood in October of last year.
U.S. District Judge George Wu indicated he was inclined to dismiss Alcon’s allegations that Tesla and Warner Bros. violated trademark law, according to Reuters. Specifically, the judge said Musk only referenced the original Blade Runner movie at the event, and noted that Tesla and Alcon are not competitors.
"Tesla and Musk are looking to sell cars," Reuters quoted Wu as saying. "Plaintiff is plainly not in that line of business."
Wu also dismissed most of Alcon's claims against Warner Bros., the distributor of the Blade Runner franchise.
However, the judge allowed Alcon to continue its copyright infringement claims against Tesla for its alleged use of AI-generated images mimicking scenes from Blade Runner 2049 without permission.
Alcan says that just hours before the Cybercab event, it had turned down a request from Tesla and WBD to use “an icononic still image” from the movie.
In the lawsuit, Alcon explained its decision by saying that “any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account.”
Alcon further said it did not want Blade Runner 2049 “to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company, for all of these reasons.”
But according to Alcon, Tesla went ahead with feeding images from Blade Runner 2049 into an AI image generator to yield a still image that appeared on screen for 10 seconds during the Cybercab event. With the image featured in the background, Musk directly referenced Blade Runner.
Alcon also said that Musk’s reference to Blade Runner 2049 was not a coincidence as the movie features a “strikingly designed, artificially intelligent, fully autonomous car.”