Sonic Sequel Film to Enter Production in March 2021 Under Codename

There was speculation of a sequel to the popular live-action Sonic the Hedgehog film that was released early this year. But now we're actually seeing evidence of it happening. The film is expected to begin production in March 2021.

According to a report by CreativeBC.com (found by gamesindustry.biz), a film is expected to enter production in British Columbia, Canada next March under the codename Emerald Hill. While this isn't a confirmation that the film itself is a Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie, there's some compelling evidence.

First, Emerald Hill is the name of the first world in the second Sonic the Hedgehog game. As such, it's become a common reference in Sonic related media. The first movie took place in Green Hills, Montana, a reference to Green Hill Zone, the first world of the first game. See the pattern? Secondly, the films producers are listed as Neal H Moritz and Nan Morales and the director is Jeff Fowler. These members held the same roles in the first film as well.

The listing claims that production will last from March 15, 2021 until May 10. This is assuming the best of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Virtually nothing else is known about the film, including the cast, plot, or setting. The only thing we can say with relative confidence is that Tails, Sonics multi-tailed fox teammate, will most likely make an appearance. He was teased at the end of the credits for the first film in the classic movie sequel teaser.

It comes as little surprise that a second film would be produced. The first live action Sonic film generated over $57 Million in the United States on opening weekend, becoming the best weekend record for a video game movie (Detective Pikachu was at $54 million in the US but did better than Sonic internationally). They had originally announced plans for a sequel back in May, but the Pandemic made people start to question if the plan would continue.

The movie shouldn't take as long to produce as the previous film, given that Sonic's character model itself had to be redesigned after widespread public criticism. Honestly, it was for the better, as the new design is much more true to the original character. The original design was just plain creepy.