The buzz for video game adaptations has only grown since the success of Nintendo’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), with its sequel also delivering an incredibly strong box office. It’s a lucrative business, bringing video games loved by fans to the silver screen, which naturally prompts Netflix to set its sights on producing film adaptations for iconic intellectual property from video game powerhouse SEGA’s catalogue.
Netflix has partnered with SEGA and announced three film adaptations in development: a live-action comedy Crazy Taxi, a kids’ animation Sonic, and a live-action crime Stranger Than Heaven.
A Netflix press release said the first project is a feature adaptation of Crazy Taxi (1999), which Dan Gregor (Dolittle) and Doug Mand (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) will write; both also wrote The Naked Gun (2025). The movie’s producers will include Neal H. Moritz (Fast X), Toby Ascher, and SEGA Head Producer Toru Nakahara, who are also visionaries behind the Sonic franchise.
The press release further expands on comments from key stakeholders for the projects ahead, with Nakahara expressing excitement about bringing “creative ideas lined up” for the adaptations and Netflix VP of Nonfiction and Transmedia Brandon Riegg conveying eagerness to bring “three completely different eras of SEGA’s catalogue…to new audiences”.
Moviegoers are already familiar with some of SEGA’s franchises, with Sonic the Hedgehog already having produced its third movie and another along the way.
No doubt, SEGA fans will be interested to see how the 1999 arcade game Crazy Taxi translates to the screen. The game puts players behind the wheel of a yellow cab, racing through the streets and against the clock to pick up passengers and drop them off in different areas of the map while flying off ramps and chasing tips via near-misses with traffic.
Meanwhile, it’s no surprise that Stranger Than Heaven will be getting a cinematic adaptation. The game, slated for release in 2027, is developed by RGG Studio (Like a Dragon, Yakuza) and follows a foreigner who rises from a stranger to a feared yakuza and entertainment tycoon against a changing nation – hallmarks of a compelling story of the Hero’s Journey.
The natural release order for these adaptations seems to be Crazy Taxi, Sonic, and then Stranger Than Heaven; only the future will tell. Also, gamers will first want to enjoy playing RGG Studio’s new title before deciding if watching a movie of the new franchise will be worth it.
Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.
Si Jia
Yonk
