A live-action movie based on Sega’s Out Run is in the works, with Michael Bay and Sydney Sweeney involved in the project.
Initially reported by Deadline and now confirmed by Sega, the movie is in the early stages at Universal, with Bay set to direct and produce it. Sweeney will also be a producer on the film, but at the moment is not planned to star in it.
That the script will be written by Jayson Rothwell, who previously wrote the script for Mads Mikkelsen action movie Polar.
On Sega‘s end, the film will also be produced by Toru Nakahara (who worked on the three Sonic movies, the Knuckles series and the upcoming Golden Axe animated show), while Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi will also oversee the project.
The original Out Run was released in arcades in 1986 and was designed by Yu Suzuki (Space Harrier, Hang-On, After Burner, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, Shenmue).
Making use of Sega’s Super Scaler sprite-scaling technology, Out Run became a regular fixture in arcades around the world, with the deluxe version even boasting a sit-down cabinet with motion simulation.
The game was popular enough to spawn sequels and spin-offs including Turbo OutRun, Battle Out Run and OutRunners and OutRun 2019, but the first true sequel came in 2003 when Sega released the polygonal arcade game OutRun 2, along with an Xbox port the following the year.
This was followed in 2006 by OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, which was developed by Sumo Digital and released on Xbox, PS2, PSP and PC.
Despite the series’ popularity, the last Out Run game was OutRun Online Arcade, a 2009 port of OutRun 2 released on Xbox 360 and PS3. In the 16 years that have followed, Sega has yet to release a new Out Run title.
The original game has made numerous re-appearances, including a 3D version on the 3DS eShop and a Switch port in 2019. It also appeared as a playable arcade game in Yakuza 0, Yakuza 6, Yakuza: Like a Dragon and the current-gen remaster of Judgment.
