Sonic the Hedgehog 2 now the highest-grossing videogame movie ever in the US

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That happened fast.

Sonic
(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is now the highest-grossing domestic videogame movie ever made—making $147 million in the US to just tip the $146 million of the original. The domestic qualifier is necessary because, while the blue blur's sequel has made $287.8 million globally (thanks, Deadline), that's still some way off World of Warcraft's $439 million haul.

The film sees Sonic and Tails looking for the Master Emerald, with Idris Elba's Knuckles and Jim Carrey's Dr Robotnik in hot pursuit. Interestingly enough the film's release coincided with Carrey announcing his intention to retire from acting—Sonic 3 was confirmed by distributor Paramount in February, so with these kinds of numbers Carrey's resolve shall doubtless be tested with an extremely large cheque.

Ben Schwartz, Sonic's voice actor in the movies, tweeted to celebrate the numbers exceeding the first movie:

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will come to the Paramount+ streaming service on May 24, only six weeks after its cinematic release. There's going to be plenty more Sonic as well as the third film, with a spinoff series with Knuckles on the way, and rumours of a Tails solo film. The movie's producer Toby Ascher also recently said "We’re creating a Sonic cinematic universe, so we knew we were going to add characters, like Tails and Knuckles; new to the films but beloved by gamers all over the world."

A Sonic cinematic universe, what a world. There's also a Sonic TV show coming to Netflix, though the most fun piece of recent Sonic news was this guy who failed to rob a bank in a Sonic mask.

Rich Stanton
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."