The Sonic 3 movie runtime has seemingly been revealed, and it is much shorter than some may have expected.
Starring the likes of Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 marks the third big-screen adventure for SEGA's iconic video game mascot.
This time around, Sonic and his friends will have their hands full as they go up against their biggest challenge yet, a human-created, genetically altered super-speeding hedgehog known as Shadow (played by Keanu Reeves).
Sonic 3 Runtime Revealed
Eagle-eyed fans have spotted a surprisingly short runtime for the Sonic 3 movie runtime online.
As posted by AMC theaters (and captured by fans on Reddit), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 seemingly will have a final runtime of 109 minutes.
This is 13 minutes shorter than 2022's Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which raced into theaters at 122 minutes, and only 10 minutes longer than 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog.
Below is a list of the Sonic movie runtimes for comparison:
- Sonic the Hedgehog - 99 minutes
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 122 minutes
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - 109 minutes
This less-than-two-hour runtime for Sonic 3 has shocked many. Fans had assumed, the series would only continue to balloon in length, as each successive movie introduced more and more elements from both in and out of the Sonic video game world.
Why Sonic 3's Runtime Is Worrying
In a world where ever-expanding blockbuster runtimes have become the norm, the 109-minute length for Sonic 3 will cause some to scratch their heads.
After Sonic 1 mainly focused on introducing audiences to Ben Schwartz's take on the character, as he took on the villainous Dr. Eggman (played by Jim Carrey), it makes sense why that movie would come in at just under 100 minutes.
Then, in Sonic 2, fans knew Paramount was going to likely shoot for the moon when it came to its runtime, as it brought in several major new elements into the world of the Sonic movies, namely Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Tails and Idris Elba as Knuckles.
Now, with Sonic 3, it has been a little confounding for some why it would be so much shorter than its predecessor. It is not as though the movie is turning the scale down in any way.
The upcoming threequel will see the proper debut of Keanu Reeves' Shadow the Hedgehog, diving deep into his tragic backstory and his plot to bring doom to Earth itself. It will also bring Dr. Eggman/Robotnik's father, Gerald Robotnik into the fray, opening the book on yet another corner of the Sonic lore.
With just these two elements in mind, along with a (what seems to be) intergalactic plot to take over the Earth, Sonic 3 has a lot on its puffy white-gloved hands and does not have a lot of time to do it.
That does not even take into consideration what the movie could be hiding in its under-two-hour runtime, like the potential introduction of other new characters from the Sonic games.
With all of these balls in the air, some fans have voiced concerns the shorter runtime may make the movie feel perhaps overstuffed, not being able to spend the appropriate time on each particular element of the plot along the way.
The Sonic faithful will just have to wait to find out if this lean runtime pays off for the movie and has them leaving theaters satisfied.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 comes to theaters on Friday, December 20.
