On February 14th,
Sonic the Hedgehog arrived in theatres. The live-action movie is based on the popular video game series of the same name and stars Ben Schwartz as the voice of the titular speedster as well as Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. Jeff Fowler serves as director and the cast also includes James Marsden and Tika Sumpter.
While the video game movie may have arrived in most theatres almost two weeks ago;
Sonic the Hedgehog hasn't yet debuted in China. On February 28th, the movie would have arrived in the region. However, Paramount Pictures has announced that the Chinese theatrical release has been officially delayed due to concerns to do with the widespread Coronavirus outbreak.
If you're unfamiliar, the disease began in December and originated in Wuhan, China. It has since managed to spread to other places around the world and there have been over eighty-thousand cases thus far — a large portion of which have unfortunately been fatal. In similar news,
many companies recently opted out from attending the upcoming GDC 2020 event due to the same concerns.
Currently, we don't know when the movie will actually arrive in Chinese theatres but it's said that they will announce the new release date sometime in the future.
Below you can read through the official statement that Paramount China released in regards to the movie's delayed theatrical release (via
Deadline):
Dear friends,
Due to the current coronavirus situation, the China release date of the film Sonic the Hedgehog will be postponed, and we will re-announce the new release date at a later time.
Sonic will only be slowing down his pace temporarily, and we look forward to bringing him zooming onto the big screen in China once it is appropriate to do so.
As the whole country and world unite together to fight the outbreak of coronavirus, we would like to express our gratitude and respect to all the medical staff, the rescue personnel, and people in service who provide us with much-needed assistance and support during this time.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a live-action adventure comedy based on the global blockbuster videogame franchise from Sega that centers on the infamously brash bright blue hedgehog. The film follows the (mis)adventures of Sonic as he navigates the complexities of life on Earth with his newfound – human – best friend Tom Wachowski (James Marsden). Sonic and Tom join forces to try and stop the villainous Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) from capturing Sonic and using his immense powers for world domination. The film also stars Tika Sumpter and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic.
Sonic the Hedgehog is in theatres now!