Netflix is expanding its video game adaptation slate with Sega.
The streaming giant is at work on a feature film treatment for Crazy Taxi to be written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, the duo behind the 2025 reboot of The Naked Gun. Neal H. Moritz and Toby Ascher of Original Film and Toru Nakahara, head producer at Sega, are producing the adaptation of the Crazy Taxi game that since a 1999 arcade launch has put players behind the wheel of a fearless cabbie racing the clock through chaotic city streets.
Netflix and Sega are also adapting the Sonic game as a new animated series in development with Carlos Stevens and Nakahara, and the Stranger Than Heaven game from RGG Studio and set in early 20th-century Japan to become a live action film, with Nakahara again producing for the video game maker. The Sonic action game franchise began in the 1990s and has sustained strong sales.
The new multi-title collaboration will look to live-action comedy, kids’ animation and live-action crime adaptations to reflect the range of Sega’s library and expand Netflix’s track record in turning game worlds into scripted and unscripted, live-action and animated films and series.
“Great games already have what every adaptation is chasing — characters people love, worlds they know by heart, and fandoms that show up. With Crazy Taxi, Sonic, and Stranger Than Heaven, we get to work across three completely different eras of Sega’s catalog, celebrating everything fans love, while introducing them to new audiences,” Brandon Riegg, vp of nonfiction and transmedia at Netflix, said in a statement.
For Sega, the aim is bringing the fan base for its popular games to a new streaming platform, with an eye to franchises.
“We’ve watched Netflix take on stories across every kind of format and treat each one with real craft, and seeing that same dedication applied to Sonic, Crazy Taxi and Stranger Than Heaven is something we at Sega are incredibly proud to be a part of,” Shuji Utsumi, president and COO of Sega, said in another statement.
Netflix’s earlier video game adaptations include a live action series based on Assassin’s Creed, a live action movie based on the Gears of War game and animated series adaptations for Minecraft, Magic: The Gathering and the Clash of Clans games.