SEGA has already been planned to be expanded into the film and TV genre, with two of its classics, "Altered Beast" and "Streets of Rage," in the making. Additionally, "Deadpool's" Tim Miller is also onboard for a "Sonic the Hedgehog" film.
Based on the reports Variety covered, production companies Stories International and Circle of Confusion ("Fear the Walking Dead") are working together on the two classic SEGA games.
Circle of Confusion's Lawrence Mattis mentioned, "These are some of the most well-loved SEGA games, and we are thrilled to be working with Stories to adapt them into major film and television franchises."
Stories International, on the other hand, has currently been setting its eyes on developing movies and TV shows based on "Shinobi," "Golden Axe" and "The House of the Dead."
For those who need to know what these SEGA classics are, "Altered Beast" is a 1988 beat 'em up arcade game, where players get to play a Ancient Greek warrior who died but was resurrected by the god Zeus in order to rescue his daughter Athena. The Greek god bestowed upon the warrior the power to turn into a number of beasts via power-ups such as a form of a werewolf, a thunder weredragon, a werebear, a weretiger, and the more powerful golden werewolf.
"Streets of Rage," on the other hand, is another beat 'em up video game developed and published exclusively for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, released back in Aug. 2, 1991. The game features several heroes, like series mainstays Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding, and their efforts to liberate the troubled city from the iron hand of the crime lord Mr. X and his syndicate. There were two more sequels after the first game, having various new characters and features.
In other SEGA-related news, Tim Miller has signed on to executive produce Sony Pictures' live-action/CG-animated film adaptation of "Sonic the Hedgehog" after his departing from Fox's upcoming "Deadpool 2."
Miller is said to collaborate with Blur Studio with Jeff Fowler to direct the video game-inspired adaptation. This is also Fowler's first directorial project.
"Jeff [Fowler] is an incredible director with strong story instincts," Miller said. "The world of 'Sonic' presents the perfect opportunity for him to leverage his experience in animation to bring new dimension to this iconic character."
"Golan the Insatiable" creators Patrick Casey and Josh Miller will be penning the script, intending this to be a family-oriented film, alongside 'Fast and the Furious's' Neal H. Moritz to produce the movie. "Sonic the Hedgehog" is scheduled for a theatrical release sometime in 2018.
