Netflix and Sega team up for a live-action Crazy Taxi movie

Netflix and Sega officially announced a partnership that includes a Crazy Taxi comedy movie, an animated Sonic series, and a crime drama based on Stranger Than Heaven.

Netflix made it official on Monday (September 14): a multi-title partnership with Sega, and the headline item is a live-action Crazy Taxi movie. The plan is to take the 1999 game's chaos (honking horns, absurd fares, illegal shortcuts) and turn it into a comedy built for the streaming catalog.

Writing duties go to Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, the same pair behind 2025's Naked Gun reboot, one of the rare recent comedy remakes that actually landed. Producing are Neal H. Moritz and Toby Ascher of Original Film, alongside Sega's Toru Nakahara: the same trio that ran the live-action Sonic movies.

Nakahara promises a tone that's 'hilariously crazy', in his own words, matching what kept Crazy Taxi relevant for so long without a real mainline sequel. Sega has leaned on Hollywood before to revive dormant franchises, but this time the package landed a lot bigger.

The deal doesn't stop at the yellow cab. Netflix is also producing an animated Sonic series aimed at preschoolers, led by Carlos Stevens and Nakahara himself, plus a live-action crime drama based on Stranger Than Heaven. Netflix VP Brandon Riegg summed up the logic behind it: games already come with characters people love, worlds fans know by heart, and fandoms ready to show up.

One detail ties it together: Sega has already confirmed Crazy Taxi: World Tour, a new mainline game slated for 2027, which should line up with the movie hitting screens. This isn't just packaged nostalgia, there's a clear intent to sell the game and the film side by side.

What actually stands out here isn't the movie by itself (game adaptations became routine after Sonic and Mario's box office runs), it's the whole bundle. Sega is treating its catalog like an actual IP studio now, not just a game maker, and that's a pretty clear signal of where the industry is heading: every relevant franchise turning into a media universe before the next game even leaves the drawing board.