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Deadline: Universal Develops Film of Sega's OutRun Driving Game

Entertainment news website Deadline reported on Monday that Universal Pictures is developing a film adaptation of Sega's classic arcade game OutRun, with Transformers film director Michael Bay slated to direct, and Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Immaculate) producing. (Sweeney is also starring in the planned live-action Gundam film, but Deadline reports that "as of right now, Sweeney is only on board to produce" the OutRun project in development.) Bay is also producing the film with Brad Fuller through their Platinum Dunes company.

Sega producer Toru Nakahara is producing for Sega, while Sega president Shuji Utsumi is overseeing the film development.

Sega released the original OutRun arcade game in 1986. The driving game tasks players with driving a car to beat a timer, attempting to reach a finish line before time runs out. The game spawned a number of sequels and spinoffs, with the latest installment, OutRun Online Arcade, releasing in 2009. The seriies became influential for future racing and driving video games.

The game's soundtrack by Hiroshi Kawaguchi is also well known among video game soundtrack enthusiasts, and served as one of the inspirations for the synthwave genre of electronic music (the term "outrun" is also variably used either as an alternative name to synthwave, or as a subgenre of synthwave).

Source: Deadline