Richard Donner to direct Crazy Taxi film

Goodman-Rosen Productions has acquired the licensing rights to create a film based on Sega's innovative Crazy Taxi series of games. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Richard Donner, director of such classic films as The Omen, Superman, The Goonies, and the four Lethal Weapon movies, is being brought in to direct and executive produce the action film. Sega will provide consultation throughout the film's production and will use original characters from the film in future releases of the game.

"The film will retain the visceral, high-energy feeling of the games," Ford Lytle Gilmore, a producer working with Goodman-Rosen, told the publication. "Fans of the game will expect a certain type of action and humor, and we'll deliver that, but we're making a movie that anyone will be able to sit down and enjoy."

"I plan on doing a lot of experimentation with this film, trying things no one's really played around with, to really put the audience in the front or back seat of the taxi during the action sequences," Donner said. "You can do a lot more with the camera work in a movie to make the action sequences feel like those in the game. While a lot of video games are set in science-fiction environments or fantasy worlds, Crazy Taxi is set in New York City with a Russian cab driver. If you do this right, it'll be a lot of fun."

A specific release date hasn't been pinned down at this time, but the film will be a big-budget summer release.