Netflix and SEGA have announced a broader partnership to adapt multiple properties from SEGA's catalog. The first project will be a live-action Crazy Taxi feature, currently in development without a release date.

Dan Gregor and Doug Mand are writing the film. Neal H. Moritz and Toby Ascher will produce through Original Film with SEGA's Toru Nakahara, creating a clear production link to the successful Sonic screen franchise.

This is a slate, not a one-off licensing deal

The companies are deliberately spreading the partnership across different audiences and formats. Crazy Taxi is being developed as live-action comedy, while Sonic is getting a new animated series aimed at younger viewers.

STRANGER THAN HEAVEN, the upcoming title from Like a Dragon developer RGG Studio, is also being developed as a live-action crime film.

That gives Netflix three very different bets. Sonic already has a large screen audience, Crazy Taxi is a legacy property being actively revived, and STRANGER THAN HEAVEN has not even reached players yet.

SEGA is carrying the Sonic production relationship forward

Moritz, Ascher and Nakahara's involvement is significant because SEGA is not treating Crazy Taxi as an entirely separate experiment. Several of the people who helped establish Sonic on film are now being used to push another catalog property onto the screen.

The source material, however, presents a completely different problem. Crazy Taxi is remembered for speed, arcade scoring, punk-rock attitude and spectacularly irresponsible driving rather than a dense narrative universe.

That gives Gregor and Mand substantial freedom, but also leaves the writers responsible for inventing much of the dramatic structure themselves. Netflix has not revealed a protagonist, plot or director.

The game revival makes the timing unusually convenient

SEGA is also preparing Crazy Taxi: World Tour for release in 2027, bringing the property back to current consoles and PC with new cities, a story mode and online multiplayer.

The screen project therefore arrives alongside an active relaunch rather than years after the franchise's last major push. A new game can rebuild recognition with players while a Netflix movie introduces the name to viewers who may never have touched the arcade original or Dreamcast version.

There is still no cast, director or release window for the film. The larger strategy, however, is already much easier to see.