STORIES INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS WITH “THE WALKING DEAD” PRODUCERS CIRCLE OF CONFUSION ON FILM & TV ADAPTATIONS OF HIT SEGA FRANCHISES “ALTERED BEAST” AND “STREETS OF RAGE”
It’s been nearly thirty years since many of us played with a Sega Genesis and spent much of my youth in the late 80’s in front of Altered Beast. I used to get on my mother’s nerves with it back then…fun times! Nowadays, I’ve pretty much distanced myself from gaming culture, but always kept up with movies, and with the successes of films like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat at the time, I often wondered when we would see some of these other properties granted the same treatment.
Well, evidently it was only a matter of time following a 2011 press release announcing the launch of Stories International, a joint venture between Sega and advertising Hakuhodo DY Group dedicated to producing various games, comic books and novels for television and film through live action and animation with Hollywood backing. A more recent hint of Sega’s activity came back in June when news broke that one of Sega’s most popular franchises, Sonic The Hedgehog was finally going to be developed as a live-action hybrid feature for Sony Pictures.
Clearly it seemed imminent for those who have been in the know in the last three years that Sega was taking things up a notch, and I suppose the only question left would “When?”. Well, we now have an answer for that question as of this week with news former Break Media executive Evan Cholfin will be spearheading efforts at Stories International with president and CEO Suzuki Tomoya to help transition a vast list of Sega games to English-language production. So far, the titles named in the report alongside Altered Beast include the 1991 Beat ‘Em Up actioner, Streets of Rage, the 1988 hack-and-slash thriller, Shinobi, the 2011 survival horror, Rise of Nightmares and the 1999 racing game Crazy Taxi, with mentions of the 1993 3D tournament game Virtua Fighter and Golden Axe are also named in the report. Moreover, Sega has also concluded a minority investment deal with All Nippon Entertainment Works in order to help Stories International in its agenda by acquiring access to twenty Japanese rights holders for the production of mangas, TV shows, toys and comics to the screen as well.
Obviously some of the titles listed above are certainly worth taking interest in, especially Streets Of Rage and Shinobi, and even moreso with Virtua Fighter to see how it will compare with other live-action tournament adaptations as of recent. But since Sega’s entire library is now fair game, perhaps we can finally add Battletoads, Contra, Cutie Suzuki, Double Dragon, Fatal Fury, an upgraded reboot of the 1994 film, Double Dragon, and maybe even Last Battle for a more grand approach to a hopeful theatrical production of Fist Of The North Star, the latter which always fascinated me with the hopes that Kane Kosugi would be picked. I can never get over that, but that’s just me.
At any rate, look for more video game movie news in the years to come. I know I’m curious!
H/T: Variety