The success of both Sonic the Hedgehog movies is paving the way for even more films based on Sega properties. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Picturestart is teaming up with the video game company to bring Space Channel 5 and Comix Zone to the big screen. Additionally, Picturestart is developing other Sega adaptations.
Sega originally released Space Channel 5 for the Dreamcast in 1999. Players controlled Ulala, a reporter for the titular news channel who battles aliens with an arsenal of flashy dance moves. However, it sounds like Picturestart’s film version is handling things a bit differently. The movie will instead feature an unnamed reporter who travels back in time to recruit a “hapless fast-food worker” to join humanity’s fight against aliens using “silly viral dances.”
Meanwhile, Comix Zone was a beat-‘em-up title released on the Genesis in 1995. The game followed Sketch Turner, a struggling comic book artist and occasional rockstar whose latest work also features a war between Earth and alien invaders. When a lightning bolt strikes one of the comic’s panels during a storm one night, the story’s main villain literally jumps off the page and sends Sketch into the fictional world of his own book, where he must fight the aliens himself.
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Comix Zone will also undergo some of its own changes for the big screen. In this incarnation, the “jaded” main character will get sucked into the final issue of his hit comic book series alongside “a young, queer writer of color.” The two must then put aside their differences as they attempt to stop a supervillain’s reign of terror and “wittily explore the ever-evolving art of storytelling itself.”
Picturestart has already hired screenwriters for both films. Barry Battles (The Baytown Outlaws) and Nir Paniry (Extracted) will write the script for Space Channel 5. Additionally, Mae Catt (Young Justice) is tackling Comix Zone. Royce Reeves-Darby and Erik Feig will oversee both projects for Picturestart and produce alongside Samie Kim Falvey and Sega’s Toru Nakahara. Sega video game director Takumi Yoshinaga and game producer Kagasei Shimomura are also working as producers on Space Channel 5 and Comix Zone, respectively.
Which of these upcoming Sega adaptations are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: The Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Encyclopedia: Every Game Released for Sega’s 16-bit Console
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