The OutRun arcade racing series from Japanese company Sega hasn’t seen a new release in over 15 years, and fans finally have new hope. Not for the next game in the franchise, though.
Image source: SEGA
Deadline exclusively reports that, following the success of the Minecraft movie and the TV adaptation of The Last of Us, Universal has decided to produce its own video game adaptation.
According to Deadline, Universal is preparing an adaptation of OutRun. The film will be directed by Michael Bay, known for the films Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Transformers (the first five parts) and ER.
Bay on the set of Transformers: The Last Knight (Image source: Paramount Pictures)
American actress and star of the upcoming thriller “Maid” Sydney Sweeney has so far only been involved in the film adaptation of OutRun as a producer, and the project’s script is being written by Jason Rothwell.
On Sega’s side, the film will also be produced by Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy producer Toru Nakahara, and Sega Corporation COO Shuji Utsumi will oversee the project.
Image source: SEGA
Details of the OutRun adaptation are not being disclosed at this stage. The games in the series have never had a rich plot, and the main task in the gameplay was to get to the goal in time, avoiding collisions with other cars.
The OutRun franchise started with the release of the arcade game of the same name back in 1986. Its popularity peaked in the 80s. Since then, Sega has released nine more games in the series, the last of which is still OutRun Online Arcade (2009).