'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' set to hit screens on Friday

Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Paramount Pictures' latest cinematic adaptation of the popular video game, is set to hit screens in theaters across the Chinese mainland on Friday.

The movie premiered at a cinema in Solana, a downtown Beijing shopping mall, on Sunday. The cinema and its surroundings were adorned with elements from the franchise, including giant character statues and a stairway embellished with paper-made golden rings featured in the story as items that transform into large portals when thrown.

With Jim Carrey reprising his role as Doctor Robotnik, aka Eggman, the new live-action and animated film teams up Sonic with his friends Knuckles and Tails. Together, they form an unlikely alliance with Robotnik, their longtime nemesis, to stop a crisis that threatens the safety of the Earth.

As the first imported title from the United States to be released this year, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will open simultaneously with eight other Chinese films on Friday, with expectations that it will help invigorate the sluggish market in the period leading up to Spring Festival.

In 2024, the country's yearly box office total reached 42.5 billion yuan ($5.8 billion), marking a 22.7 percent decline compared to 2023. As a result, most industry insiders have pinned their hopes on the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, one of the most lucrative box-office seasons in China.