Sydney Sweeney and Michael Bay Team Up for OutRun Video Game Movie
In the category of “headlines I thought I’d never write,” comes news that Michael Bay and Sydney Sweeney are teaming up for a film based on the classic SEGA game OutRun. No, seriously this is happening. At least, according to the exclusive report from Deadline. As wild as it sounds, it’s actually not that hard to believe. Within the last five years or so there’s been a renaissance of video game movies that don’t suck. It can be argued that SEGA kicked it off with the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film which has had two successful sequels and a fourth on the way. Thanks to a historic run of games and three successful movies Sonic is a bigger deal than ever now.
It makes sense that power players in Hollywood want to ride the wave. The question is what would a film based on OutRun be about? For those who remember the original 1986 arcade game didn’t have much in the way of a story. You played as a un-named guy accompanied by a blond woman in the passenger seat racing a Ferrari Testarossa across America trying to beat the clock at each checkpoint.
Despite there being several sequels and remakes of the original game, that basic aspect has always remained the same. Two people in a Ferrari racing and drifing through a seemingly endless road. Can that really be fleshed out into a feature film?
Apparently Sydney Sweeney and Michael Bay think so as they’re both attached to produce the film with Bay also set to direct. According to the report Sweeney is not said to be starring in the film and is only on-board to produce. However, considering her influence and popularity I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she eventually joins the cast in a lead role. Though if she does, I would expect she will be taking the wheel rather than playing the blonde in the passenger seat.
What Would an OutRun Film Even Be About?
Though the question remains, what could an OutRun film possibly be about? If I had to guess, I would say it could be a modern take on Cannonball Run with a cross country road rally at the center of the story. That’s a film genre audiences haven’t seen in a long time. Combine that with a nostalgic IP like OutRun, Sweeney’s star power, and Michael Bay’s action-packed, eye-candy, popcorn style and this could have the makings of a summer blockbuster.
If you’re an OutRun purist and have concerns about the production getting too far away from the source material, you’ll be happy to know that SEGA executive Toru Nakahara who served as a producer on all three Sonic movies is on board as a producer and SEGA President and COO Shuji Utsumi will oversee the film as well.
The only missing piece at the moment is Ferrari. The Italian supercar maker has been a major part of the OutRun series since it’s birth in the 80s but so far there’s no official word if it’s joining the film in any official capacity but I’ll keep my ear to the ground and update this story if anything new develops.
In the meantime, what do you think about an OutRun movie? Is it something you’d watch? Let me know in the comments.