Netflix and SEGA announce Crazy Taxi film, new Sonic series and STRANGER THAN HEAVEN film

Netflix and SEGA have announced a multi-title collaboration that will turn three very different game properties into screen projects: a Crazy Taxi feature film, a new Sonic animated series for an upper-preschool audience and a live-action STRANGER THAN HEAVEN film.

The key distinction is that this is not a release schedule. The announcement provides different levels of detail for each project, and Netflix’s official announcement does not give a release date for any of them. Of the three, Crazy Taxi has the clearest set of publicly named creative attachments.

Crazy Taxi is the first project, with writers and producers attached

Netflix describes the Crazy Taxi film as the first project to emerge from the SEGA deal. Dan Gregor and Doug Mand are attached to write the feature, while Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher and SEGA’s Toru Nakahara are listed as producers.

That is the most specific production information released so far. Netflix has not announced a director, cast, story details or release window for the film.

The announcement arrives as SEGA is also preparing Crazy Taxi: World Tour for 2027, but Netflix has not established any narrative or creative connection between that game and the feature adaptation. They should be treated as separate projects unless either company says otherwise.

The Sonic project is a new preschool animated series

Netflix and SEGA are also developing a new Sonic animated series aimed at an upper-preschool audience. Carlos Stevens and Toru Nakahara are named in the announcement as working on the project in development.

There are no further confirmed details about its story, voice cast, episode count, creative roles or release timing. Crucially, Netflix calls it a new series, so there is no basis to describe it as another season of Sonic Prime or as part of the Paramount Sonic film continuity.

Netflix noted separately that all three seasons of Sonic Prime are available on the service, but that availability is not confirmation of a connection between the existing show and the newly announced series.

STRANGER THAN HEAVEN will be live action, but details are under wraps

The third adaptation is a live-action film based on STRANGER THAN HEAVEN, with Nakahara publicly named as producer. Netflix says the project will bring “a new lens” to the franchise while making clear that details remain under wraps.

That means Netflix has not announced a film plot, writer, director or cast. The source game is itself still upcoming: SEGA has described it as an RGG Studio action-adventure centred on Makoto Daito, a mixed-heritage young man whose story begins in San Francisco in 1915 and spans multiple eras and cities. Those game details provide context for the property, not confirmed story information for the film.

SEGA’s official game announcement describes the title’s setting and protagonist, while Netflix’s adaptation announcement remains deliberately broad about what the live-action version will cover.

What Netflix and SEGA have—and have not—confirmed

• Confirmed: Netflix and SEGA are collaborating on adaptations from SEGA’s catalogue.
• Confirmed: Crazy Taxi is a feature film and the first announced project, with Gregor and Mand writing and Moritz, Ascher and Nakahara producing.
• Confirmed: Sonic is a new animated series for an upper-preschool audience, in development with Stevens and Nakahara.
• Confirmed: STRANGER THAN HEAVEN is a live-action film, with Nakahara producing.
• Not announced: release dates, directors, casts, plot details, production starts or continuity links to existing Sonic or Crazy Taxi projects.

Nakahara said the three adaptations are intended to have distinct tones, describing Sonic as “cute yet cool,” Crazy Taxi as “hilariously crazy” and STRANGER THAN HEAVEN as a “badass action drama.” For now, though, the concrete takeaway is simpler: Netflix and SEGA have announced three projects, but only Crazy Taxi has a publicly identified writing team.

The deal also follows SEGA’s previously reported interest in expanding its game properties across film, television and other media. As Video Games Chronicle reported in February, SEGA Sammy had identified transmedia expansion as part of its strategy. The projects also add to Netflix’s growing game-adaptation slate, although the most important production and release details remain unannounced.