Box office Sonic the Hedgehog 2 grossed $190.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $214.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $405.4 million. With its target audience aged between 16 and 25, its release coincided with the start of
spring break in 15% of
K–12 schools. The film made $26.8 million on its first day, including $6.25 million from Thursday night previews, doubling that of the original movie. surpassing the original film's three-day opening ($58 million) and
Bruce Almighty () to become Jim Carrey's highest three-day domestic opening and Paramount's biggest three-day opening since 2014. tickets were sold in the U.S. and Canada during its opening weekend. It broke the opening record for a
video game movie adaptation, which was previously held by the original
Sonic the Hedgehog and was surpassed a year later by
The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($146.4 million). Among opening audiences, males made up 61%, those aged between 18 and 34 comprised 46% of ticket sales and those below 17 comprised 32%, and the ethnic breakdown was 38% were Hispanic/Latin American, 29% Caucasian, 20% African American, and 13% Asian or other. the all-time seventh best April opening, the second best opening of
early 2022, and the fifth best opening
since 2020. In its second weekend, the film made $29.3 million, finishing second behind
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
Sonic 2 returned to the top of the box office on
Easter Monday with . By its third weekend, the film surpassed the original
Sonic the Hedgehog to become the highest-grossing video game film in North America. The film remained in the box office top ten until dropping out in its twelfth weekend.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was the
ninth-highest-grossing film of 2022 in the U.S. and Canada. In international regions outside North America, the film opened in 31 markets and grossed $26.1 million in its first weekend, outpacing the original film in these markets. In France, the film made $1.2 million on its first day of screening, reaching the top spot in the charts and surpassing the first film's opening day gross by 30%. In the United Kingdom, it debuted at number one in its first weekend and later retook the top spot from
Fantastic Beasts in its fourth weekend with in four weeks. The film crossed the $300 million worldwide mark by its fifth weekend, and the $400 million threshold by its thirteenth.
Critical response The
review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 69% based on 182 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It isn't as much fun as the little blue guy's greatest games, but if you enjoyed the first film,
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 serves as a generally acceptable sequel."
Metacritic assigned the film a
weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale (same as the first), while those at
PostTrak gave it an 87% positive score, with 74% saying they would definitely recommend it. Nell Minow of
Rogerebert.com gave the film a two out of four, writing, "Yes, we know we're appropriating details from better movies. It is over-plotted, with three different storylines mixing comedy and adventure." Alex Stednan of
IGN gave the film a seven out of ten, saying, "
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 brings all the humor and charm of its predecessor, while also being delightfully more loyal to its source material." Carlos Aguilar of
The Wrap also gave the film a positive review, writing, "The screenplay reflects actual effort, and Jim Carrey gets to be unfettered in his performance, leading a surprisingly satisfying follow-up." Leslie Felperin of
The Guardian gave the film a three out of four and wrote, "There's not much to spoil about
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 because there's not very much to say about it, other than it's mildly amusing and reasonably competently assembled." Brian Shea of
Game Informer gave the film an 8.5 out of 10, writing, "While Sonic the Hedgehog's unexpected positive reception could have put its sequel in a difficult spot since it comes in with higher expectations, the Jeff Fowler-directed
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 clears the higher bar, delivering a better movie in nearly every way." In a "C+" review, Ross Bonamie of
Collider wrote, "
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is at its most clever when it's throwing in these clever nods that will appeal to fans who have waited to see this world come to life on the screen in this way with these characters." John Nugent of
Empire gave the film a two out of five, writing, "Sonic's second outing is little more than a half-baked half-term distraction tool — though Jim Carrey's outrageously committed performance nearly saves the day." Brian Lloyd of
Entertainment.ie gave the film a three out of five and said, "Idris Elba as Knuckles is the most galaxy-brain casting idea ever conceived of." Bob Hoose of
Plugged In gave the film a positive review, saying, "In short, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 doesn't necessarily grab the gold ring right out the first loop-de-loop, but it won't disappoint the kids or their "fanboy" parents by the time you hit the flag-waving goal." Thomas Floyd of
The Washington Post gave the film a two out of four and wrote, "In
Sonic the Hedgehog 2, there is no problem that its titular speed demon can't outrun. With that in mind, it's especially perplexing that this video game-inspired sequel should be, of all things, a bit sluggish." In a "C−" review, Siddhant Adlakha of
IndieWire wrote, "It's visual soup where nothing pops or stands out. Almost nothing anyone does or says feels rooted in recognizable character traits, and despite Marsden's most sincere efforts, he finds himself once again unable to meet Sonic's eye-line (a production kerfuffle that would be funny, were it not also another reminder of VFX crunch). Then again, who can blame Marsden's character for not wanting to gaze into a soulless blue abyss?" Fan reactions to the evolving relationship between Agent Stone and Doctor Robotnik in the film were favorable, prompting the creation of
shipping and
fan fiction, sometimes under the name Stobotnik, that was acknowledged by Majdoub and Carrey.
Accolades ==Sequel film and television series==