It was announced that Sony and producer Neal Moritz are bringing the best-selling SEGA video game franchise Sonic the Hedgehog to a movie theater near you.

Sony is joining with Marza Animation Planet, a CG animation film-production company to make a hybrid CG-animated/live-action feature a la The Smurfs movies.

Evan Susser and Van Robichaux are penning the screenplay, which will follow  Sonic and will feature some of the franchise's characters including the evil Dr. Eggman.

Moritz is producing through his Original Film banner alongside Marza’s Takeshi Ito and Mie Onishi while Toby Ascher is executive producing.

Columbia Pictures president of production Hannah Minghella said,  

There are limitless stories to tell with a character like Sonic the Hedgehog and a built-in international fan base. Along with our wonderful creative partners at Marza, we're looking to capture everything that generations of fans know and love about Sonic while also growing his audience wider than ever before.

Marza CEO Masanao Maeda added,

Sonic has had dozens of adventures on the console and the small screen, and we're thrilled that he's now coming to the big screen. Sony Pictures has had great success with hybrid animated and live-action features, and we're confident that this collaboration will bring a fresh take to Sonic, while still capturing everything that the fans love about him.

Minghella and Andrea Giannetti will oversee the Sonic project for the studio.