Today in headlines we never even imagined the possibility of conceiving of writing, classic arcade racing game OutRun is, according to reports from Hollywood, on its way to the silver screen in a flick to be directed by Transformers helmsman Michael Bay.
Yes, somehow all the jokes everyone in the games industry was making when Saoirse Ronan-fronted, hard-hitting drama The Outrun landed in 2024 have come to pass, and the largely plotless arcade title will be joining the ranks of surprise videogame adaptations in the future, as reported by Deadline.
OutRun, which itself spawned more than a few sequels, was originally launched in September 1986 in arcades, and followed up with some home console and computer releases on the Sega Master System and Genesis, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum.
It essentially comprised a “grand tour”, as the player drove a convertible Ferrari Testarossa — which didn’t exist at the time, though later Ferrari made a single example for chairman Gianni Agnelli, along with some unofficial conversions — through some themed courses inspired by European locations.
Players would begin in Coconut Beach, racing on winding, undulating point-to-point routes with obstructions and traffic you’d need to avoid to pass through checkpoints in time and get your timer topped up. At the end of each race you’d choose a path from two options each time, towards five possible finishes — each with its own rewards — after five races, with 15 routes available in total.
That doesn’t necessarily translate to a usable plot, so screenwriter Jayson Rothwell (Polar) will have his work cut out for him. As well as Bay’s direction, Sydney Sweeney (Immaculate) is on board as a producer, though whether she will star or not — the blonde individual in the Testarossa had little to do in the game — remains unknown.
Also attached to the project in a production capacity are Sega’s Toru Nakahara, who produced the Sonic the Hedgehog movies, and Sega president Shuji Utsumi. Long-time Bay collaborator Brad Fuller is also on-board.
There have been a number of recent successes in combing the games industry for movies, perhaps best represented by The Super Mario Bros Movie which raked in some $1.4bn globally. The three Sonic the Hedgehog movies (so far) have managed $1bn between them, while the inexplicable A Minecraft Movie is over $750m in its first three weeks.
Not everything has been quite so robust though, with the Gran Turismo movie falling a little short of break-even, and Borderlands virtually sinking without trace. We’ve got some way to go until OutRun makes its premiere though, to find out which side of the line it’ll fall.
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