Ben Schwartz to voice Sonic the Hedgehog

Actor Ben Schwartz has been roped in to voice the title character of the upcoming film, Sonic the Hedgehog. James Marsden, Tika Sumpter and Jim Carrey will also star in the live-action hybrid.

Jeff Fowler, who received an Oscar nomination for his 2005 animated short Gopher Broke, is helming the film, which will blend live-action and computer graphic elements. Paramount Pictures has given Sonic the Hedgehog, a holiday-season release date of November 15, 2019. 

The project, based on the Sega video game franchise, had been in the works at Sony, but the studio let its film rights lapse and Paramount picked up the project in October 2017. 

Sega launched the Sonic game in 1991 and it has sold more than 360 million copies to date, including both packaged and digital games on consoles, tablets, and mobile. The game features a hedgehog named Sonic on a quest to defeat Doctor Robotnik, a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and stolen magical Chaos Emeralds.

Schwartz is no stranger to voicing classic characters. He is currently voicing Dewey Duck in the reboot of Duck Tales and will voice Leonardo in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.