The Sonic The Hedgehog Movie Is Adding Jim Carrey In A Major Role

Jim Carrey in Kidding

Sonic the Hedgehog was unquestionably one of the most popular video game characters of the 1990s, and while those glory days have long since passed, the super speedy rodent protagonist from Sega has been keeping the race going both in video games, cartoons and comics. His profile, however, is going to get a major boost soon, as it was announced in 2014 that a live action/CGI Sonic the Hedgehog movie is heading to theaters, and today brings word that it looks like Jim Carrey will soon be added to the cast as Sonic's arch-nemesis, Robotnik, a.k.a. Doctor Eggman.

According to THR, Jim Carrey is in final negotiations to play Robotnik in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, and unlike the eponymous protagonist, Carrey's Robotnik will be a live action character as opposed to being a CGI creation. Once his deal has been finalized, Carrey will join a cast that so far consists of James Marsden and Tika Sumpter. In recent years, Carrey's roles have included Kick-Ass 2, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Dumb and Dumber To and Dark Crimes, and he'll be seen later this year in the Showtime series Kidding. That said, Sonic the Hedgehog could end up being an opportunity for Carrey to re-channel that manic energy that he displayed early in his film career in movies like Ace Ventura and The Mask.

Doctor Robotnik

Robotnik has been part of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise since the very beginning, debuting alongside the eponymous protagonist in the 1991, simply-titled video game Sonic the Hedgehog. A mad scientist who's notorious for his robotic creations, Robotnik seeks to conquer the world so that he can rule over his Eggman Empire. He frequently tries to accomplish this goal by harnessing the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and while he normally must contend with Sonic and his allies interfering with his plans, there have been times where Robotnik and Sonic have had to join forces to combat a greater threat.

No plot details for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie have been officially revealed yet, including whether the main story is set within Sonic's world or if we have a Smurfs-like scenario where the Sonic characters are tossed into our reality, i.e. the "real world." The movie will be directed by first-time feature helmer Jeff Fowler, who directed the 2005 Oscar-nominated short Gopher Broke. Deadpool's Tim Miller and Neal H. Moritz from the Fast and the Furious franchise are attached as producers.

Sonic the Hedgehog races into theaters on November 15, 2019, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on its development. In the meantime, feel free to look through our 2018 release schedule to find out what movies are coming out later this year.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.