Sega's current CEO attempted to get a Crash Bandicoot movie made but no one snapped it up

Shuji Utsumi wanted to get ahead of the adaptation curve, but production companies shut him down.

Today, there is perhaps no hotter commodity for the world of film and TV than that of snapping up the adaptation rights for video games. It feels as though every week a new adaptation is put into development, but that wasn't always the case.

In fact, when current Sega CEO Shuji Utsumi first entered the video game business, production companies had no interest or intention to make a project based on a gaming IP, so much so that they even shut down proposals to make a Crash Bandicoot flick.

This was confirmed by Utsumi during a conversation with The Game Business, where he stated: "When I started to get involved in the video game business, I picked up Crash Bandicoot and started asking some of the movie studios if they were interested in turning that property into a movie. But I was treated like, 'hey, video games are like a toy business.' They didn't really take it seriously."

Jokes on those guys, right? Especially when you consider the fact that the Sonic the Hedgehog films have proven to be a massive success for Sega and Paramount alike, generating well over $1 billion in box office revenue alone.

Would you watch a Crash Bandicoot movie?