Video games being turned into films is the big craze in Hollywood at the moment. Minecraft is currently reeling in the money at the box office, following on from the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the probably better forgotten Borderlands.
Racing games are a bit trickier to adapt to the silver screen than most other genres, but that wasn’t a stumbling block for Gran Turismo – for better or worse. If reports are to be believed, we’ll have another to add to that soon.
According to Deadline, classic arcade racing game OutRun is set to have an adaptation.
In case you’re too young to remember seeing the machines in arcades and somehow haven’t played one of the many console ports over the years, the premise was pretty simple. You’d pick a Ferrari of your choosing, drive along a coastal road and aim to make it to checkpoints before running out of time, often hindered by slower-moving traffic.
Now, how that’ll be turned into a film remains to be seen. Universal Pictures is set to have a crack, though, and Michael Bay has been touted as the director. If Transformers is anything to go by, expect lots of explosions and not-so-subtle product placements laced throughout.
Sydney Sweeney is also being linked as a producer to the film, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see her take on a starring role, with Jayson Rothwell taking on script-writing duties. That’s about all we know for now, with Deadline describing plot details as ‘vague’.
Given OutRun hasn’t had a proper new entry into the series since 2009’s Online Arcade, could we see a new title released ahead of a film adaptation? Sega, its long-time publisher, is in the process of reviving another arcade favourite in Crazy Taxi, so we wouldn’t be shocked to see that happen.
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