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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Film Earns Estimated US$71 Million in U.S. Opening Weekend

Entertainment news website Variety reported on Sunday that Paramount Pictures' Sonic the Hedgehog 2 sequel film has earned an estimated US$71 million at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend — beating industry projections and topping the first film's US$70 million opening in the United States. The sequel film earned an estimated US$70 million internationally, and earned an estimated worldwide total of US$141 million in its opening weekend.

The sequel film opened in the United States on Friday and earned an estimated US$26.5 million on its opening day, according to Box Office Mojo. It earned another estimated US$26.8 million on Saturday, and an estimated US$17.7 million on Sunday. The film screened in 4,234 theaters and has a per-theater average of US$6,258. It earned US$6.25 million from preview screenings on Friday.

The film will open in Japan on August 19.

Paramount Pictures studio announced in May 2020 that it was producing a sequel to the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film, with Jeff Fowler returning as director, and Pat Casey and Josh Miller as returning scriptwriters. Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, and Toru Nakahara are credited as producers on the new film, while Hajime Satomi, Haruki Satomi, and Tim Miller are credited as executive producers.

Paramount Pictures revealed the movie's logo — featuring two tails shaped after the franchise's fox character Tails hanging off of an orange number two — in February 2021. Fowler announced on his Twitter account in March 2021 that production had officially begun on the film on the same day.

Idris Elba plays Knuckles in the film, after teasing the role in August prior to the announcement. Colleen O'Shaughnessey reprises her role as Tails. O'Shaughnessey has voiced the character since the 2014 Sonic Boom animated series.

Paramount Pictures announced in February that it has already started development on a third Sonic the Hedgehog film, as well as the first live-action series for the Sonic franchise. The live-action series will debut on Paramount Pictures' Paramount+ streaming service in 2023, and will center on the character Knuckles, with Idris Elba reprising the role.

The original film earned US$70,002,074 to rank #1 over its Presidents' Day holiday opening weekend in the U.S. in February 2020. The Box Office Mojo website now lists the first film with a US$148,974,665 total in the United States, overtaking Pokémon Detective Pikachu as the #1 film in the United States based on a game. (Detective Pikachu earned US$144,105,346 in the United States.) The film has earned the equivalent of US$170,741,018 internationally, for a US$319,715,683 total worldwide gross. The film debuted digitally in March 2020, and shipped on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in May 2020.

Ben Schwartz (DuckTales, Parks and Recreation) voiced the title character Sonic in the original film. James Marsden (Westworld, X-Men) and Tika Sumpter starred in the film, and Jim Carrey (The Truman Show, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective) played the villain Robotnik.

Source: Variety (Rebecca Rubin), Box Office Mojo