SEGA Hires Evan Cholfin for Filmmaking

SEGA hires Evan Cholfin, former Break Media executive, for adapting its IP’s into films. Cholfin is now a top man at Stories International, which produces films, TV shows and entertainment for digital platforms. Cholfin is experienced in these areas, as he was previously a part of Break Media. The company created a variety of successful video series and websites such as Screen Junkies and GameFront. In October of 2013 Break Media merged with Alloy Digital to create Defy Media who currently own Smosh and The Escapist. The titles SEGA is looking to adapt include: Altered Beast, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Rise of Nightmares and Crazy Taxi. Not only are they seeking live action films but animated spin-offs as well. Cholfin’s resume also includes having worked in development with David Fincher, an Academy Award winning director.

SEGA is a video game developer and publisher based out of Japan. The company was prolific in the video game industry from the early 80’s until 2001 where the failure of the Dreamcast caused massive restructuring. Since then SEGA has mostly relied on older IPs to keep afloat, with series such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Virtua Fighter, Yakuza and Total War. SEGA’s most recent title, Sonic Boom was panned by critics, and serves as a launch pad for a new television series and other merchandising. SEGA has also brought over Valkyria Chronicles to the PC from its previous exclusivity on the PS3.

SEGA isn’t the only game publisher looking to adapt its titles into other media. EA this year released Need for Speed with Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad as the star. Ubisoft is also seeking to adapt its franchises into other media, with Assassin’s Creed already having short films and comics expanding its universe. SEGAs recent output hasn’t been all that great which doesn’t give much hope that they can beat the trend of video game based movies being pretty terrible.