Sega has announced in partnership with Picturestart that film adaptations of Space Channel 5 and Comix Zone are in the works.
While it has been decades since Comix Zone has ever had anything released under the IP, Space Channel 5 did launch a VR title back in 2020.
The Space Channel 5 film will written by Barry Battles and Nir Paniry. Battles is known for The Baytown Outlaws, while Paniry wrote and directed Extracted, which was nominated for the Emerging Visions award at South by Southwest.
The Comix Zone adaptation will be written by Mae Catt, who is known for their works on Young Justice and the How to Train Your Dragon spin off, Dragons: The Nine Realms.
Here’s a full rundown of both productions given by Sega:
Space Channel 5, a comedy / dance adaptation of the cult-classic 1999 dance game, will tell the story of a hapless fast-food worker who is recruited by a freedom reporter from the future to save the world from aliens using the one thing that unites all people on the planet: our love of silly viral dances.
Space Channel 5 is being written by Barry Battles and Nir Paniry. Battles wrote and directed The Baytown Outlaws, a crime comedy starring Billy Bob Thornton and Eva Longoria. Paniry wrote and directed Extracted, a sci-fi drama nominated for the Emerging Visions award at South by Southwest. Battles is represented by Pete Stein at CAA and Jeff Portnoy at Bellevue Productions; Paniry is also represented by Portnoy.
Comix Zone, an adaptation of the cult console game that has been so influential to so many over the years, follows a jaded comic book creator and a young, queer writer of color who, when sucked into the final issue of his popular series, must put aside their differences to stop a dangerous supervillain from sowing complete destruction — and in the process wittily explore the ever-evolving power of storytelling itself.
Comix Zone will be written by Mae Catt, whose credits include writing on the Emmy®-winning HBO Max original, Young Justice, and the How to Train Your Dragon spinoff series, Dragons: The Nine Realms. Catt is represented by Matthew Dartnell at Writ Large.
Royce Reeves-Darby and Erik Feig are overseeing both projects for Picturestart and will produce alongside Samie Kim Falvey, also of Picturestart. From SEGA, Vice President Co-COO Shuji Utsumi is overseeing both projects and Toru Nakahara, producer for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie franchise as well as executive producer for Sonic Prime TV series, will produce the two adaptations. In addition, Takumi Yoshinaga (SEGA video game director) will join the team for Space Channel 5 and Kagasei Shimomura (SEGA video game producer) will join the team for Comix Zone.
Considering the success of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movies, of which a third one is slated for the end of 2024, it makes sense that Sega would want to capitalize on this with films of their other IPs.
This is Niche Culture. In this column, we regularly cover anime, geek culture, and things related to video games. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s something you want us to cover!