By Joshua Omoniyi
Paramount has put a big date on the calendar. After the success of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and a planned Sonic the Hedgehog 4 in 2027, the studio has slotted an untitled “Sonic Universe Event Film” for December 22, 2028. The company is treating this entry like a proper tentpole — something closer to an Avengers-style crossover than a single-character caper. That leaves fans with one obvious question. What exactly are they planning?
Below are four sensible, screen-ready possibilities — all drawn from what the franchise has already set up on screen and in games.
1) Shadow takes the stage — with Sonic at his side
Keanu Reeves’s Shadow made a striking impression in Sonic 3. Giving Shadow his own movie is the obvious, low-risk option. A Shadow film could centre on the darker anti-hero and introduce long-requested characters, like Rouge the Bat, while building out a supporting cast tied to his world.
But an event film probably needs more than a Shadow solo show. The bigger play would be a Shadow-led picture that becomes a team-up, a story where Shadow and Sonic join forces to face a threat so large it demands the franchise’s biggest players. A returning cosmic-level villain such as Black Doom would give the studio a suitably grand antagonist and justify the “event” label.
2) Sonic Generations — double the Sonics, double the scale
Sonic Generations, the 2011 game, already reads like an event: older Sonic and younger Sonic team up to stop history from being rewritten. If the film hinted at time travel in Sonic 4 — a reasonable theory given recent story threads — the franchise could adapt Generations as a full-blown nostalgia-driven crossover.
The payoff is immediate: audiences get multiple Sonics, multiple versions of supporting heroes, and a chance to revisit fan-favourite beats from past films and games. It’s the kind of cinephile candy that also satisfies casual viewers who just want a visually big, emotionally satisfying ride.
3) Sonic Frontiers goes cinematic — techno horror in cyberspace
For something different, Paramount could lean on Sonic Frontiers. That game tossed Sonic and co. into a digital realm and introduced existential threats like Sage and The End. A live-action take on Frontiers would let the franchise shift tones into sci-fi thriller territory — a world of virtual landscapes, AI threats, and high-concept stakes.
If Sonic 4 keeps the tech-villain thread alive, a Frontiers-style sequel would feel like a natural expansion: Sonic fights not just for the planet but for the integrity of reality itself. It also plays well as an event film because the threat could be global and cross over multiple character lines.
4) Flames of Disaster and Mephiles — mythic, strange, and epic
There’s an older, darker route too: adapt elements from the ill-famed Sonic (2006) mythos, specifically the Flames of Disaster and the Mephiles storyline. The franchise has already teased this direction via the Knuckles spinoff, which mentioned the Flames of Disaster. An event film that brings in Silver, Shadow, and Sonic to stop a reality-bending fire demon would be the most epic, mythic option on the table.
It’s riskier. The 2006 game’s plot is messy and polarising, so the screenwriters would need to restructure and streamline. But if done right it offers emotional stakes and spectacle that few other Sonic stories can match.
So which will it be?
Paramount has four real choices that make sense on narrative and commercial grounds. It could give Shadow a spotlight and call it an event, or build a time-hopping ensemble out of Generations. It could go tech-thriller with Frontiers, or play mythic and terrifying with Flames of Disaster. Or, if the studio wants to be boringly safe, it could simply greenlight a straightforward Sonic 5 and slap “event film” on the poster anyway.
Producers have floated the idea of Sonic movies becoming franchise-level events. If Paramount truly wants an Avengers-style payoff, the 2028 film will need to deliver new character arrivals, meaningful stakes, and visual set pieces that justify every crossover fan theory. Otherwise it risks being “event” in name only.
Either way, the Sonic cinematic universe is clearly trying to do big things. Whether that ambition pays off will depend on storytelling discipline, a willingness to follow through on teases, and the inevitable test: do fans feel rewarded?
Quick franchise snapshot
The Sonic film series has grown rapidly since its 2020 reboot, with multiple sequels and a Knuckles spinoff. The 2028 project would join a growing list of Sonic media that includes classic games like Sonic Generations and Sonic Frontiers, animated series, and long-running comic runs. The cinematic universe is now one of the most active adaptations of a long-running video game IP.
Keep an eye on Sonic 4 in 2027. How that film ends will probably point
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