In a story from the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount Pictures has announced it'll be delaying the Chinese release of Sonic the Hedgehog amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
"Due to the current coronavirus situation, the China release date of the film Sonic the Hedgehog will be postponed, and we will re-announce the release date at a later time," says a statement from Paramount. "Sonic will only be slowing his pace down temporarily, and we look forward to bringing him zooming onto the big screen in China once it is approporaite to do so."
The film was originally going to release this Friday, just two weeks after it released in America and other territories. Since its release, Sonic the Hedgehog has grossed over $204 million dollars worldwide, with an estimated budget of $85 million. Additionally, it's gone onto become the largest grossing video game movie domestically since Pokemon: Detective Pikachu released last May.
"As the whole country and world unite together to fight the outbreak of the coronavirus, we would like to express our gratitude and repsect to all the medical staff, the rescue personnel, and people in service who provide us with much-needed assistance and support during this time," continues the studio.
The coronavirus outbreak hasn't just affected the film industry. PlayStation has cancelled its arttendence of upcoming events such as PAX East and GDC. Other studios and developers such as Facebook, Kojima Productions, and Square-Enix have pulled back on plans to attend those shows as well due to the outbreak. Additionally, the outbreak has now impacted Valve as they gear up to release Half Life: Alyx and their availabiltiy of the Valve Index VR headset.
Paramount Pictures' Sonic the Hedgehog is in theaters now. The movie stars Ben Schwartz as Sonic, James Marsden as Tom Wachowski, and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. It's directed by Jeff Fowler and written by Patrick Casey and Josh Miller. You can check out the trailer for the movie below.