Sony has confirmed long-rumoured plans to bring Sonic the Hedgehog to the big screen, announcing a tentative release date of 2018 for a combined live-action and CGI movie.

Hajime Satomi, the CEO of Sega Sammy Holdings, the parent company of Sonic’s creator Sega, said in a new interview with The World Folio on Wednesday (February 10th) that plans to give the blue blur his own feature movie was in the pipeline.

“Sega Sammy Group is currently planning with Sony Pictures to create a live action and animation hybrid Sonic the Hedgehog movie scheduled for release in 2018,” he said. However, beyond this release window, Satomi was reluctant to share any more specific details. For instance, it’s unclear whether this is an update on the 2014 announcement of a CGI movie, or whether this project is intended to replace it.

Sonic the Hedgehog

“With this CG animation production, we would like to expand our business into other entertainment areas beyond what we are currently involved,” Satomi continued.

In any case, it certainly suggests that whatever we get in two years’ time will feature a CGI-animated Sonic in real world locations, itself conjuring up images of the widely despised 2006 game, a critically panned reboot of the franchise that saw Sonic getting romantic with a human princess. Ew.

Sonic the Hedgehog as a character will be celebrating his 25th anniversary in June this year, having first appeared in the iconic side-scrolling screen epic ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ on the Megadrive in 1991. That game spawned a number of equally well-received sequels on the same console, but subsequent attempts to update Sonic at the turn of millennium have proved difficult.

Sonic the Hedgehog title screenThe title screen for 1992's 'Sonic the Hedgehog 2'

In addition, Sega also talked about its plans to adapt to the smartphone market and roll out indoor theme parks to bolster its business both in Asia and in the West.

“We are strong in the smartphone and online gaming industry,” Satomi said. “Therefore, for our company to grow bigger, we must focus on expanding into markets other than smartphones and online gaming – such as indoor theme parks in Asia or animations”

More: What we know about the rumoured ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movie