The multi-title partnership spans three eras of SEGA’s catalog, live-action comedy, kids’ animation, and a period action-drama, marking Netflix’s latest expansion into video game adaptations.
Netflix and SEGA have struck a new multi-title deal, kicking things off with a feature film adaptation of Crazy Taxi and confirming two additional projects in development: an animated Sonic the Hedgehog series and a live-action adaptation of the upcoming game Stranger Than Heaven.
The Crazy Taxi film will be written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, the duo behind 2025’s The Naked Gun reboot, with Neal H. Moritz and Toby Ascher of Original Film producing alongside SEGA’s Toru Nakahara, all previously behind the Sonic movie franchise. Since debuting in arcades in 1999, Crazy Taxi has built its identity around frantic driving, ramp jumps, and reckless fare-chasing set to a punk-rock soundtrack. The franchise’s next game, Crazy Taxi: World Tour, arrives in 2027.
Moritz and Ascher framed the project as a passion piece for longtime fans, saying the film is aimed at “anyone who’s spent hours behind the wheel of a yellow cab on their Dreamcast.” Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s VP of Nonfiction and Transmedia, described the broader partnership as a chance to work across “three completely different eras of SEGA’s catalog,” spanning genres from comedy to kids’ programming to crime drama.
The new Sonic series, in development with Carlos Stevens and Nakahara, will aim younger than past adaptations, targeting an upper-preschool audience with what SEGA describes as a “high-voltage, comedic, yet emotionally grounded” take on Sonic and his friends. It follows Sonic Prime, whose three seasons remain available exclusively on Netflix.
Stranger Than Heaven, meanwhile, marks a tonal departure for the partnership. Based on an upcoming game from RGG Studio, the developer behind the Like a Dragon/Yakuza series, the story follows a foreigner’s rise from poverty to yakuza power player to entertainment mogul in early 20th-century Japan. Nakahara is attached to produce the live-action film, though plot and casting details remain under wraps.
SEGA President and COO Shuji Utsumi pointed to Netflix’s range across formats as a key reason for the partnership, saying the fandoms behind these games “deserve storytelling that honors what makes each title special.” Nakahara added that fans should expect distinct tones across the slate: something “cute yet cool” for Sonic, “hilariously crazy” for Crazy Taxi, and a “badass action drama” for Stranger Than Heaven.
The SEGA titles join an already sprawling Netflix video game slate that includes a live-action Assassin’s Creed series, a live-action Gears of War film, animated adaptations of Minecraft, Magic: The Gathering, and Clash of Clans, the Overcooked competition series, new seasons of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and the third and final season of Devil May Cry.